15th Contact Day Jewish Studies on the Low Countries

Tuesday 23 May 2023

Hof van Liere - Prentenkabinet, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen

• 10:15-10:30: Registration and welcome coffee
• 10:30-10:45: Welcome and opening of the contact day
  Vivian Liska, Karin Hofmeester & Veerle Vanden Daelen
  
  
• 10:45-12:15: Session I: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Delft, Brazil and Beyond: Jewish Culture and Economy in Context (chair: Jessica Roitman)
  José Alberto R. Silva Tavim: Between Amsterdam and Brussels: The Versions of the Manuscripts ‘Relações, Cantigas, Adivinhaçõens…’ from the British Library and from KBR
  Erik Odegard: Brazil, Barbados and Beyond: Sephardic Merchant Networks in the Atlantic World, 1654-1674
  Max Farasat: A Place to Call Home: Reading Jewish Belonging and Identity in the Material Culture of Jewish Architecture in the Netherlands
  
  
• 12:15-13:45: Lunch with book presentations (in Dutch):
  David Wertheim: Waar gaat het over als het over Joden gaat?
  Kristien Hemmerechts & Guido Van Wambeke: Leopold Flam. Ik zal alles verdragen, ook mezelf. Dagboeken en brieven.
  
  
• 13:45-14:45: Session II: The Shoah and the Local Perspective: Jewish Choices and Municipal Involvement (chair: Frédéric Crahay)
  Jan Maes: How a German Member of the Association of Jews in Belgium (AJB/VJB) Portrayed the Head of the Sipo-SD Department IV (also known as the “Gestapo”) in Brussels as a “Righteous Rescuer”
  Maarten-Jan Vos: Municipal Involvement in the Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands 1940-1950
  
  
• 14.45-15.00: Coffee break
  
  
• 15.00-17:00: Session III: Jewish Migrations, Identities and Elites (chair: David Wertheim)
  Joris Kok: Next Year in Antwerp: Labour Migration of Jewish Diamond Workers to Antwerp, 1894-1940
  Sietske van der Veen: Defining ‘the Jewish Dutch Elite(s)’, 1870-1940
  Channa Zaccai: The First Israelis in the Netherlands: A Case Study of Diaspora, Jewish Identity and Integration
  Hilde Greefs & Anne Winter: Eastern-European Newcomers in Antwerp at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The Jewish Dimension?
  
  
• 17:00-17:15: Closing remarks
  Karin Hofmeester & Veerle Vanden Daelen
  
  
• 20:00: public evening lecture (in Dutch)
  Over de ‘ambassadeur van de Joden’ en ‘de Heren van de Kabbalah’. Opkomst en ondergang van de Joodse zaak als Nederlands politiek instrument
  David Wertheim (Menasseh ben Israel Instituut, Amsterdam)
  Evening lecture in room R.012, Rodestraat 14, 2000 Antwerpen.

Click here to download the abstracts.

Institute of Jewish Studies
University of Antwerp
Tuesday 23 May 2023​

The Institute of Jewish Studies organizes for the fifteenth time an interdisciplinary conference at the University of Antwerp concerning Jewish Studies on the Low Countries. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate contacts between researchers working within this area of study. We especially encourage young researchers to participate in the workshop. We also hope for contributions from more established researchers, in order to create a positive exchange between different research generations. We particularly invite papers and/or sessions that are explicitly comparative in character, and welcome themes and disciplines within Jewish Studies concerning the Low Countries. Proposals need not be limited to a specific historical period and presentations may include work in progress. Both individual and panel proposals are possible. The conference language is English. Please note that the conference organizers cannot provide financial support to cover travel and accommodation of presenters or participants. Please submit an abstract of maximally 400 words and a short CV by 15 January 2023.

For further information please contact:
Karin Hofmeester: kho@iisg.nl
Veerle Vanden Daelen: veerle.vandendaelen@kazernedossin.eu​