Vergangenheitsbewältigung and the limits of normalization: on the history and politics of Israel Studies in Germany.

ISRAEL; GERMANY

While Israeli academia houses numerous research centers that explore German history and culture, German universities stand out for the near absence of Israel Studies as an institutionalized discipline. At present, there is not a single permanent professorship for Israel Studies at Germany's large research universities. The article analyzes this blind spot by contextualizing it within the unique nature of German-Israeli academic relations, established in the shadow of the Shoah. We argue that the attempt to recover and reclaim the German-Jewish past in the Federal Republic of Germany was accompanied by a systemic blindness vis-à-vis the Israeli present. By contrasting the German case to Anglo-Saxon academia, the article points out that the core components for institutionalizing Israel Studies as a scholarly field are missing in Germany so far – both in terms of means (public and private funding), motive (mobilization by pro-Israel actors), and opportunity (interest by neighboring fields). Following a historical overview of research on Zionism and Israel in German academia, the article discusses the slow emergence of Israel Studies in recent years: While small clusters of systematic research into Israeli history are developing, the research field of Israel Studies is facing an uphill battle in its struggle for academic institutionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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