The triangle of Germany, Israel, and Palestine has long been shaped by unresolved moral legacies, geopolitical entanglements, and clashing narratives of trauma and justice. The interdisciplinary conference “The Unholy Trinity: Germany, Israel, Palestine – Memory, Politics, and Responsibility Across Entangled Histories” aims to interrogate the complex historical, political, and ethical relationships between these three spaces—relationships often marked by contradiction, discomfort, and deep asymmetries of power.
The Sussex Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies invites scholars to explore how the memory of the Holocaust, the Nakba, the exodus of Jews from Arab countries, and British colonial rule intersect, compete, or reinforce one another in shaping contemporary debates about responsibility, reparations, and solidarity. The organisers are particularly interested in contributions that address how Germany’s postwar culture of Holocaust remembrance and its political commitment to Israel (depicted today as Germany’s Staatsräson) are being reexamined considering recent developments in Israel/Palestine—and how these dynamics inform public discourse on antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and historical justice both in Europe and the Middle East. At the same time, the organisers seek critical reflections on the British imperial legacy in Palestine and its afterlives in political, academic, and cultural institutions—particularly in shaping the discursive and material terrain on which these debates are unfolding today.
Possible themes include (but are not limited to):
- Germany’s memory culture and its relationship to contemporary Israeli state policies
- The instrumentalisation of Holocaust memory in political discourse
- The role of German and European institutions in Israel/Palestine
- Perspectives on Holocaust memory and Nakba memory
- The legacy of British colonialism in Palestine and its present-day reverberations
- “Importing” the conflict: academic, activist, and cultural responses in Europe
- Postcolonial and decolonial critiques of national memory regimes
- Jewish and Palestinian diasporic perspectives on Europe and Germany
- The ethics and politics of solidarity in times of war and occupation
- Freedom of speech, censorship, and institutional neutrality in academia
- Reparations, historical justice, and competing claims to victimhood
The Sussex Weidenfeld Institute welcomes interdisciplinary proposals from scholars working in history, memory studies, political theory, postcolonial studies, Jewish studies, Middle East studies, cultural studies, and related fields. They especially encourage contributions that cross national or disciplinary boundaries, or that engage in difficult conversations with critical nuance and scholarly responsibility.
The Sussex Weidenfeld Institute will offer a travel allowance of up to £300 for candidates coming from Europe and £150 from the United Kingdom. Candidates from Israel, the United States and other non-European countries will be considered but may be asked to contribute towards their travel costs. Accommodation costs will be covered for all students.
Submission Guidelines
The organisers particularly encourage early career scholars to apply for the workshop.
Please submit your proposal as a single PDF document by 15 October 2026. Applications should include:
- An abstract (max. 300 words)
- A short biography (max. 150 words)
- A brief note on your anticipated travel and accommodation needs
Please direct your submissions and any informal inquiries to: Gideon Reuveni (g.reuveni@sussex.ac.uk) and Fabian Weber (f.weber@sussex.ac.uk).
| Date | 14 to 16 December 2026 |
| Location | Brighton |
| Host | Sussex Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies, University of Sussex |
Application deadline: 15 October 2026