Between Revolution and Reaction

The Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin

presents an academic conference:

Between Revolution and Reaction:

German-Speaking Jews and the Ideas, Politics, and Cultures of the Right

Center for Jewish History, New York

Oct. 25-27, 2026

The Leo Baeck Institute – New York I Berlin (LBI), one of the most important archives and libraries on the history and culture of German-speaking Jews, will sponsor an academic conference in New York, October 25-27, 2026. Inspired not least by the contemporary political moment, the conference will investigate the topic of (German-speaking) Jews and the political, cultural, and intellectual right, especially since the 19th century.

The public keynote of the conference with Mark Lilla will take place on October 25 at 6:30 PM.

Members of the scholarly community in New York may register to attend the conference by emailing lbiconference2026@lbi.org.

Both popular understanding and dominant historiographical narratives have tended to associate German Jews with the modern forces of "progress”, “democracy”, or "liberalism.” Jews appear in these narratives as founders, political supporters, or social bases of movements and ideas broadly understood as belonging to the left half of an ideological spectrum. They have been cast – and not without reason – as the natural friends or beneficiaries of political upheavals that allowed them link Jewish emancipation and social equality with more universal democratic demands – from the revolutions of 1789 and 1848 to 1917/18. These narratives have themselves had significant consequences for German-speaking Jews – often tragic – as the real or imagined disproportionate role of Jews in left and liberal politics affected the attitudes towards Jews of other political actors and ideologues.

While plenty of historiography has explored the nuances not encompassed by a liberal imaginary of Jews at the vanguard of progress, there is still work to be done to understand the full breadth of Jewish political consciousness and action. This especially so for Jewish political engagements that prioritized “tradition”, “order”, or “conservatism,” – the key values of the right. German-speaking Jews were no different from other populations in the sheer diversity of their politics, but it is worthwhile to consider how their position as Jews provided unique impulses. For instance, some Jewish conservatives explicitly linked their rejection of left or liberal causes to a fear of persecution as scapegoats by reactionaries. Others saw the individualism and universalism of democratic movements as a threat to Jewish tradition and communal cohesion – a slippery slope toward “assimilation.” As a disenfranchised and discriminated minority, Jews also became politicized in different ways and at different times than other populations.

With the current rise of right-wing and far-right wing movements worldwide, the literature on the intellectual history of conservative movements since the French Revolution has taken on a new urgency. German-speaking Jews figure large in this discourse, not only as victims of the worst-case scenario of right-wing totalitarianism, but also as early analysts of the far right (the Frankfurt School, Hannah Arendt) or lodestars of contemporary conservative thought (Leo Strauss, Ludwig von Mises). This conference aims to broaden and deepen our consideration of how German-speaking Jews positioned themselves in response to revolutionary and reactionary moments in history. The papers will explore Jewish responses to conservatism and even reactionary thought that ranged from rejection to attraction.

How did German Jews engage with conservative thought and movements? How do intellectual, political, and cultural interactions between Jews and “the right” in other countries reflect on the case of German-speaking Jews? (How) have traditional ingredients of ideologies and policies of the right, such as nationalism, authoritarianism, and xenophobia, affected Jewish ways of engaging with those movements as participants or opponents? How have the Holocaust and the new postwar circumstances, including a Jewish state and new ideological formations, affected Jewish attitudes and activities?

Conference committee:

Robin Judd (Ohio State University)

Darcy Buerkle (Smith College)

Paul Lerner (University of Southern California)

Philipp Nielsen (Sarah Lawrence College)

David Brown (LBI)

Frank Mecklenburg (LBI)

Magdalena Wrobel (LBI)

Markus Krah (LBI)