5 doctoral researchers (f/m/d/x)

The first cohort of DFG-funded International Research Training Group (IRTG) “Belongings: Jewish Material Culture in Twentieth-Century Europe and Beyond”, a unique cooperation between Leipzig University (LU), the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow (DI), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), commenced its work in Leipzig in August 2024. A second cohort is due to start in August 2025. The interdisciplinary programme brings together expertise in modern European and Jewish history, German and Slavic literary studies, philosophy, cultural studies, folklore and performance studies, and art history.

The IRTG is based on the idea that Jewish history can be reconstructed, narrated, and commemorated in a substantial and innovative fashion through the analysis of its world of objects. This includes objects that have been lost, imagined, longed for, or that have left a recognisable void as a result of the cataclysms of the twentieth century. The polysemous quality of the English term “belonging(s)”, which can mean both “being affiliated to a specific context” and “being owned”, serves as a framework for the IRTG’s exploration of individual and collective notions of the relationship between people and objects. The IRTG aims to scrutinise objects of Jewish provenance, as well as those that have proven meaningful to a particular Jewish community for cultural, religious, or economic reasons, among others.
While taking the Holocaust as the focal point of the topic, the IRTG will delve into the material worlds of the late nineteenth century and reach forward into the present, seeking new tools to provide nuanced insights into the diverse European Jewish worlds and their entanglements with their non-Jewish surroundings. The shift of the centres of Jewish life in the twentieth century from Europe to the Americas and Palestine/Israel will also be considered.

The IRTG welcomes project proposals relating to one or more of its five interdisciplinary research clusters. The Institute for Cultural Studies, the Institute for Slavic Studies, the Institute for German Studies, the Historical Seminar and the Institute of Art History of Leipzig University are involved in the programme:

•“Practice” focuses on the everyday use of objects. Different forms of production, consumption, and
practices ranging from the domestic to the public are analysed from the perspectives of Alltagsgeschichte, folklore studies, cultural and gender history (responsible PIs: Professor Maren Möhring, LU; Dr Dani Schrire, HUJI)

•“Ownership” reflects on the contested meanings of loss, recovery or restitution of Jewish property
and material heritage following its destruction and translocation during the Holocaust. Projects will focus on the shifting claims associated with objects and their role in (re)shaping Jewish life after 1945 (responsible PIs: Dr Elisabeth Gallas, DI; Professor Dirk van Laak, LU; Professor Yfaat Weiss, LU/DI/HUJI)

•“Text” focuses on the material lives, fragmentations, translations, dispersions and collections of
texts in European Jewish cultures while also exploring the notion of materiality within Jewish literary and philosophical production (responsible PIs: Professor Dieter Burdorf, LU; Dr Aya Elyada, HUJI; Dr Enrico Lucca, DI; Professor Benjamin Pollock, HUJI)

•“Memory” builds on the connection between materiality, memory and affectivity and will address
the role of Jewish material culture in the process of shaping the memory and post-memory of the Holocaust in different historical or national contexts as well as literary narratives (responsible PIs: Professor Anna Artwińska, LU; Professor Manuela Consonni, HUJI)

•“Stage” explores the ways in which objects and works of art are staged, exhibited and curated in
different ensembles and environments. The spectrum of how the stories of Jewish objects are narrated, how they are identified, classified and performed while being detached from original contexts, forms the core interest (responsible PIs: Dr Diego Rotman, HUJI; Professor Tanja Zimmermann, LU).

The envisioned doctoral qualification programme for the IRTG researchers is designed to ensure that candidates successfully complete their PhD within a 4-year time span, build a vibrant international research network, and are well prepared for a career in academia or other related professions. The second cohorts from HUJI and LU/DI will begin with a joint first year of the programme in Jerusalem, where possible given the political uncertainty. The second year will take place in Leipzig. The doctoral researchers will have joint German-Israeli supervision.

In the first two years, the programme includes a one-week introductory seminar, a two-semester mentored reading seminar, workshops to discuss research proposals and chapters, a summer school and a research colloquium. Funding is available for archival and research visits. Researchers will have the opportunity to gain professional experience through a practical semester or teaching, and if feasible within their research. An important part of the programme is intensive language training (funded by the programme) during the first five semesters in Hebrew/German, and possible additional training in project-specific languages. Courses in academic key skills will also be offered.
Researchers of all nationalities with a master’s degree (or equivalent with a written thesis) in the aforementioned fields are invited to apply for a doctoral researcher position. As the working language of the programme is English, proficiency in this language is required. Dissertations should generally be written in English.

Detailed information on the programme, clusters, researchers and ongoing research projects can be found at www.uni-leipzig.de/belongings. For further information about the graduate programme and the recruitment process, please contact Dr Oliver Krause (oliver.krause@uni-leipzig.de).

Please send your application in English with the usual documents – including a letter of motivation, a project proposal indicating two clusters that seem most suitable (max. 3 pages), English copies of university diplomas (in all cases: if not received by the deadline for submission of applications on 14 March 2025, submission of the respective diploma by no later than 31 July 2025), and two letters of recommendation from tenured researchers, to be sent separately (directly to the email address given, clearly indicating the name of the candidate) – quoting reference number 2/2025, as a single PDF file via email to belongings@uni-leipzig.de.

The deadline for submission of all application materials is 14 March 2025. Digital interviews will take place at the end of April.

Please note that it is not possible to guarantee confidentiality and rule out unauthorised access by third parties when communicating by unencrypted email. Alternatively, you can send all documents by post to Universität Leipzig, International Research Training Group “Belongings”/ Dr Oliver Krause – persönlich – Ritterstraße 26, 04109 Leipzig.

We kindly request that you submit copies only, as we are unable to return application documents. Interview expenses will not be reimbursed. Leipzig University aims to increase the proportion of women in positions of responsibility and therefore expressly invites qualified women to apply. Severely disabled persons – or persons deemed legally equal to them under Book IX of the German Social Code – are encouraged to apply and will be given preference in the case of equal suitability.

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