Diasporic Home-making: Jews in Paris and Berlin in the 20th Century

Date: 

Thursday, October 24, 2019, 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Location: 

Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall

Speaker:
Leora Auslander
Professor of European Social History and the Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor in Western Civilization, The University of Chicago

Chair:
Derek Penslar
William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History, Harvard University; CES Resident Faculty & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University; President, American Academy for Jewish Research

Info:
Two inventories.

A Paris Interior c. 1940. The dining room:1 Henri II sideboard with matching table and chairs; 1 tea table3 old pewter pots; Assorted paintings: 2 views of Rouen, 1 of the Marché de St. Valéry, 1 of the Grosse Horloge in Rouen, etc; 1 canapé Louis Philippe. The Living room: 2 Louis XVI armchairs; 2 Louis XV chairs; 1 foot bath genre Bagnolles de l’Orne; and, a wooden sculpture from Indochina.

A Berlin Interior c. 1936: Japanese, Meissen, and Rosenthal Porcelain; Egermann Glass (Czech);2 Silver Chippendale candelabra; Queen Anne Style “Herrenzimmer” and Dining room; Louis XVI style chair; Modern Style BedroomGerman and Italian Paintings.

Snapshots of two Jewish homes. The first is filled with nothing but French (including the Empire) things. The second surrounds its owner with goods from around the world. This talk will explicate this difference and what it teaches us about Jewishness, Frenchness, and Germanness in the first half of the 20th century.

Sponsors:
- Jews in Modern Europe Seminar
- William Landau Lecture and Publication Fund, Center fir Jewish Studies, Harvard University