Maja Hultman – författare

"Beslutet att sälja den befintliga synagogan i Gamla stan fattades redan på 1860-talet. Istället skulle man låta uppföra en ny och ståtlig gudstjänstlokal i stadens nya centrum. Detta blir upptakten till ett helt nytt kapitel i svenskjudisk historia. Den nya synagogan skulle ligga inom broarna eller "strax i början av Malmarna", på en fri plats och inte emellan boningshus. Den skulle ligga i en "fridfull trakt" och inte vid ett handelstorg eller nära bullersam trafik och vara stor nog att rymma en byggnad i väst-östlig längdriktning - allt i enighet med den judiska religionens krav. Detta delikata uppdrag leddes av "Hasselbackskungen" Wilhelm Davidson, David Hirsch och Edvard Josephson. De hade fått vetskap om den "Wahrendorffska tomten", som låg mellan Kungsträdgården och nyanlagda Berzelii park, mitt emot splitternya Berns salonger, som Wilhelm Davidsons bror, konditorn August Davidson låtit uppföra. Församlingen tvekade. Nämnda tomt låg ju så långt borta från stadens centrum! Men Wilhelm Davidson och David Hirsch led inte av beslutsångest. Här gällde det att handla snabbt och beslutsamt innan priset for upp i höjden. Sagt och gjort - på eget bevåg köpte Davidson och Hirsch den Wahrendorffska tomten. Först därefter erbjöds församlingen att utan vinning köpa ut dem. Och så blev det!"

Exploring and challenging the academic lifework of Professor Joachim Schlör, this book provides a window into current developments and debates in Jewish cultural studies. Reflecting on Schlör’s biographical and from-below approach, this Festschrift considers how the ordinary and everyday remains essential for historical analysis of the human experience of modernity, forced migration, and the loss of a homeland, offering a vital synopsis of new research in urban and Jewish history in the process.Jewish History and Culture beyond Borders brings together an international cast of renowned scholars from around the world to excavate Jewish experiences of modern Europe, urban topographies, and Jewish/non-Jewish relations through aspects that go beyond the traditional focus on either antisemitism or spheres of high culture and politics. Biographical, material, rural and transnational approaches are used, which together assemble theoretical reflections and introduce epistemological questions on dynamics in urban power structures, pluricultural everyday practices, and multi-layered experiences of (dis)location through bottom-up case studies.

Exploring and challenging the academic lifework of Professor Joachim Schl r, this book provides a window into current developments and debates in Jewish cultural studies. Reflecting on Schl r's biographical and from-below approach, this Festschrift considers how the ordinary and everyday remains essential for historical analysis of the human experience of modernity, forced migration, and the loss of a homeland, offering a vital synopsis of new research in urban and Jewish history in the process. Jewish History and Culture beyond Borders brings together an international cast of renowned scholars from around the world to excavate Jewish experiences of modern Europe, urban topographies, and Jewish/non-Jewish relations through aspects that go beyond the traditional focus on either antisemitism or spheres of high culture and politics. Biographical, material, rural and transnational approaches are used, which together assemble theoretical reflections and introduce epistemological questions on dynamics in urban power structures, pluricultural everyday practices, and multi-layered experiences of (dis)location through bottom-up case studies.

Exploring and challenging the academic lifework of Professor Joachim Schl r, this book provides a window into current developments and debates in Jewish cultural studies. Reflecting on Schl r's biographical and from-below approach, this Festschrift considers how the ordinary and everyday remains essential for historical analysis of the human experience of modernity, forced migration, and the loss of a homeland, offering a vital synopsis of new research in urban and Jewish history in the process. Jewish History and Culture beyond Borders brings together an international cast of renowned scholars from around the world to excavate Jewish experiences of modern Europe, urban topographies, and Jewish/non-Jewish relations through aspects that go beyond the traditional focus on either antisemitism or spheres of high culture and politics. Biographical, material, rural and transnational approaches are used, which together assemble theoretical reflections and introduce epistemological questions on dynamics in urban power structures, pluricultural everyday practices, and multi-layered experiences of (dis)location through bottom-up case studies.

The first decades of the 21st century have presented numerous challenges for European Jewry: far-right movements and a rise of antisemitism, a global pandemic, and a war on European soil. At the same time, heritage sites commemorating the Jewish past and the use of digital platforms to create new forms of communication and cultural co-construction are growing. Using a variety of spaces – heritage sites, museums, digital practices, urban topography, and communal activities – as case studies, this collective volume analyses whether they might serve as a reminder that despite moments of crisis, Jewish life in Europe persists. The spatial analysis offered by the volume uses the concept of “virtuality” as a starting point, thereby engaging anew with spatial concepts laid out by scholars in the 1990s. Now, 30 years later, prompted by today’s political, social, and cultural European landscape, as well as the increasing role of digitization, the authors discuss the meaning of “virtuality” and how it relates to notions of “authenticity” and “reality” in Jewish culture and in Jewish/non-Jewish relations. As such, the book provides a fresh take on and a new way forward for the conceptualizations and applications of “space”, which together offer particularly useful avenues to access power relations, identity (re-)constructions, and performative aspects of the European Jewish experience.