"Traumas of the war and the Holocaust in the collective memory of the Germans and German Jews and the role of Russia in German and Jewish narratives of that time" lecture by Gregor Luks

On September 24, 2019, Gregor Luks (LMU) gave a lecture within the framework of the seminar "West and East: Universalism of Culture"

In his report G. Luks answered the following questions: What are psychological consequences of such deep traumas of the twentieth century as World War II and the Holocaust? How did these injuries affect the psyche of eyewitnesses and victims of these events from the German and Jewish sides, as well as the psyche of their children and grandchildren? What role did Russia play in German and Jewish narratives of the time, being for some people a threat and for the others a savior? The report was devoted to all these issues, based both on conversations with representatives of different generations of Germans and German Jews and on scientific research on this subject. Bearing in mind such concepts as “generation”, “trauma”, “guilt” and “ambivalence”, the speaker examined the conclusions his interlocutors had come to, evaluating the events of those times and their consequences.

Translation from German into Russian was carried out by prof. B.L. Khavkin. The event leader was Marina S. Kiseleva, a chief research fellow of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue.

The video of the lecture.