In her new book, Zionism in Translation: Encounters in the German-Hebrew Archive, Na’ama Rokem investigates written exchanges by a fascinating range of literary figures, including Hannah Arendt, Gershom Scholem, Yehuda Amichai, Ludwig Strauss, Erich Auerbach, Walter Benjamin, Leah Goldberg, Peter Szondi, Paul Celan, and Tuvia Ruebner. This remarkable bilingual archive encompasses not only letters but also drafts, reviews, and other ephemeral documents. Written in German and Hebrew, these documents were sent to and from Jerusalem, primarily in the decades following 1948.

The writers at the center of Rokem’s study contend with the genocidal violence that brought the rich historical relation between German and Hebrew to a seeming end. They also grapple, in different ways, with the new reality in Israel/Palestine in the wake of the founding of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Nakba. The bilingual conversation that crosses over between German and Hebrew in these letters thus centers around the question of Jewish fate in the twentieth century and is immersed in negotiations about Jewish nationalism, the Zionist movement, and the possibilities of Jewish poetry. In the space between German and Hebrew, Rokem argues, the protagonists of her study articulate forms of ambivalence and doubt that remain absent from their published writings.

In conversation with Dina Berdichevsky, Na’ama Rokem will discuss forms of belonging and resistance that emerged in relation to the Zionist movement throughout the twentieth century, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of Jewish nationalism and its discontents. With an introduction by Eva Geulen.

Admission and registration

Admission is free; no booking is required.

Eventlocation

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung
Eberhard-Lämmert-Saal, Eingang Meierottostr. 8
10719 Berlin