De-Integration? Judaism and the Theater of Memory in Contemporary Germany (in English)

Author Max Czollek’s essay collection Desintegriert Euch! transformed the debate about the integration of minorities in Germany when it appeared in 2018. His perspective on the roles of contemporary Jews in German society and its remembrance culture—its “theater of memory”—struck a nerve not just among Jews, but other minority groups as well. The threat from the right has created a new kind of solidarity, Czollek recently told the New York Times, speaking about his efforts to forge alliances among various minority groups in Germany. This joint event co-organized by the Stanford Taube Center for Jewish Studies, and UC Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies includes a lecture, moderated discussion, and audience Q&A. 

Max Czollek lives and works in Berlin. He received his diploma in political science at TU Berlin in 2012, and his doctorate at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at Technische Universität Berlin in 2016. He has been a member of the poetry collective G13, which publishes books and organizes lectures, since 2009. Together with Sasha Marianna Salzmann, he initiated Desintegration: Ein Kongress zeitgenössischer jüdischer Positionen (2016) and Radikale Jüdische Kulturtage (2017) at Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Studio Я. His poetry collections Druckkammern (2012), Jubeljahre (2015) and Grenzwerte (2019) were published by Verlagshaus Berlin. In 2018, his non-fiction book Desintegriert Euch! was published by Carl Hanser Verlag.