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Jay Geller

@jaygeller.bsky.social
921 followers 180 following 185 posts

Professor of History, scholar of the German-Jewish experience, biographer of Gershom Scholem and family, and devotee of modernist architecture and design.

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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Additional, location-specific context:
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Now that the BBC has picked up this story, it has gone "viral" and gone beyond the bubble of experts on German politics and society. www.bbc.com/news/article... I thought I would add some more context that isn't in the article. #Stoplersteine #Germany #HolocaustMemory
bbc.com
German town bans stumbling stone memorials to Nazi victims
Germany's education minister has branded the ban on the small brass memorial plaques a "scandal".
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
On this day 75 years ago, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer announced in the Bundestag that his government would support the payment of reparations to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. germanhistorydocs.org/en/occupatio...
germanhistorydocs.org
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on the Federal Republic’s Attitude towards the Jews (September 27, 1951)
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
An diesem Tag vor 75 Jahren verkündete Bundeskanzler Konrad Adenauer im Bundestag, dass seine Regierung die Zahlung von Wiedergutmachung an jüdische Opfer des Holocaust befürworten würde. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSn9...
youtube.com
Archivradio 27.9.1951 Bundeskanzler Adenauer kündigt "Wiedergutmachung" an
YouTube video by Kalenderblatt
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"AfD, CDU ban new Holocaust 'stumbling stones' in Heidenau [ . . . ] The initiators of the Heidenau ban argue that, while remembering Holocaust victims is an essential task, the placement of stones leads to 'passersby walking over or even stepping onto the names of the victims.'" My thoughts below.
dw.com
AfD, CDU ban new Holocaust 'stumbling stones' in Heidenau
Activists, politicians and representatives of Holocaust victims reacted with anger after the center-right CDU party joined forces with the AfD to ban new Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in the easter...
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I think we are going to see more and more stories like this as the AfD, with its philosophy of minimizing the Nazi years and the Holocaust, becomes more present and more powerful, especially in the eastern states.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Ich weiß es zu schätzen, wenn die Vorsitzende der Berliner Linkspartei und mögliche zukünftige Bürgermeisterin sagt: „Das [Rechtfertigungen für das Massaker vom 7. Oktober 2023.] weise ich auf's schärfste zurück. Für uns ist ganz klar, dass wir für den Schutz jüdischen Lebens stehen...“.
tagesschau.de
Elif Eralp, Spitzenkandidatin Die Linke, über ihre künftige Politik als stärkste Kraft in Berlin
Elif Eralp, Spitzenkandidatin Die Linke, über ihre künftige Politik als stärkste Kraft in Berlin
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A scholarly article that deeply impressed me when I was an undergraduate many years ago was "'The Dying Middle': Weimar Germany and the Fragmentation of Bourgeois Politics" by Larry Eugene Jones in Central European History, vol. 5, no. 1 (March 1972), pp. 23-54. I can't help but think of it again.
cambridge.org
“The Dying Middle”: Weimar Germany and the Fragmentation of Bourgeois Politics | Central European History | Cambridge Core
“The Dying Middle”: Weimar Germany and the Fragmentation of Bourgeois Politics - Volume 5 Issue 1
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Ein Stück Berliner Geschichte: 1932 riefen Walter Ulbricht von der extremen Linken (KPD) und Joseph Goebbels von der extremen Rechten (NDSAP) gemeinsam zu einem Streik bei der Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe auf, was ihrem Ziel diente, die Republik und die SPD anzugreifen. www.spd.de/160-jahre/19...
spd.de
SPD.de: 1932 | BVG-Streik
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Like many of you, I've been a fan of the TV series "Babylon Berlin" for years. But, to be honest, I found season 5 to be disappointing. The show presents conspiracy theories and conjecture as actual historical events. Yes, the show is fiction, but it's historical fiction and requires verisimilitude.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
m.youtube.com/shorts/8PydS...
m.youtube.com
Bundestrainer Jürgen Klopp möchte uns Fahne zurückholen 🤝
YouTube video by RTL Sport
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Last night was the kids‘ school’s curriculum night. For their unit on the Holocaust, they’re reading “Night.” I feel like it’s a deceptively challenging book, especially for middle schoolers, but it’s very frequently assigned. How did it come to be THE Holocaust novel?
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Sharing this essay in the New York Times by @jloeffler.bsky.social on the instrumentalization of anti-antisemitism. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | For Trump, Jews Are Proving to Be a Very Useful Tool (Gift Article)
Debates about Jews are never just about Jews.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
An interview on the street, posted on a different website. But if you understand German, it's interesting and worth watching for a couple of minutes. www.instagram.com/reel/DdEky_Q...
instagram.com
floztu on Instagram: ""Obwohl ich so alt bin, ich blicke durch!""
23K likes, 498 comments - floztu on September 9, 2026: ""Obwohl ich so alt bin, ich blicke durch!"".
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
@aluckmann.bsky.social In case you didn't see this @nytimes.com article, featuring St. Marien in Essen-Karnap: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/a...
nytimes.com
What to Do With Europe’s ‘Zombie Churches’? These Artists Have Some Ideas. (Gift Article)
As the continent’s ties to Christianity fade, churches are being abandoned. But some see a chance to transform them into communal spaces like care centers or venues for the arts.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Re: all those people who are claiming that it is solely or mainly economic concerns, such as unemployment, that drove the AfD vote in Saxony-Anhalt, I have a question: Then how do we explain the difference between the outcome of today's election in Sax.-Anh. and elections in Hamburg and Bremen? 1/2
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
@samadlerbell.bsky.social @nytimes.com What I would like to know is what’s new about Ryback’s book? What’s there that hasn’t already been illuminated in books on the same subject by Benjamin Hett and Henry Turner? Historians have been studying this topic for decades. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/b...
nytimes.com
Book Review: ‘53 Days,’ by Timothy W. Ryback (Gift Article)
In “53 Days,” the historian Timothy W. Ryback shows how the Nazis used democratic means to destroy German democracy.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Ich habe den Eindruck, dass Magnus Brechtken dieses Jahr keine Weihnachtskarte von Katja Hoyer bekommen wird. I have the impression that Magnus Brechtken is not going to be getting a Christmas card from Katja Hoyer this year.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
TIL that the @nytimes.com's chief non-fiction reviewer objects to biographies (especially of biographies of German-Jewish intellectuals) that begin with 25 pages of background on the setting, on German-Jewish history, and on the family's lineage, etc. It wasn't even my book, and I feel insulted.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
It’s really frustrating that the NYT and WaPo regularly review history books written by NYT, WaPo, New Yorker, and Atlantic journalists who decided to write history books, but the NYT and WaPo rarely review books written by professional historians, even though many are very readable and relevant.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
If someone writes a German-language history of veganism, they should entitle their book "Vegangenheit" or, if they are inclined to use a parenthesis (as is popular among academic writers), "Ve(r)gangenheit".
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Autoren, ich bitte Sie: Wenn Sie einen Roman schreiben, der vor 1933 in Berlin spielt, dann besorgen Sie einen Stadtplan *aus jener Zeit*. Verwenden Sie keine Straßennamen wie Clayallee oder Otto-Suhr-Allee.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
And you think you have too many books? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/s...
nytimes.com
Too Many Books?
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/a...
nytimes.com
Fewer Visitors, More Threats: A New Reality for Europe’s Jewish Museums
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Happy (historically accurate) American independence day to all who celebrate! constitutioncenter.org/blog/when-is...
constitutioncenter.org
When is the real Independence Day: July 2 or July 4?
There’s no doubt the Founding Fathers approved the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. But which date has the legitimate claim on Independence Day: July 2 or July 4?
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
@nytimes.com, I know that it's easy to blame Nazism on "Prussian militarism," but Hitler was an Austrian; his movement was based in Bavaria, which was a hotbed of political radicalism during Weimar; and post-WW1 Prussia was bulwark of democracy until 1932. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/o...
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Zuerst waren es das Deutsche Historische Museum im Zeughaus, das Pergamonmuseum und das Märkische Museum. Und jetzt die Staatsbibliothek? Für elf Jahre?! In dieser Zeit könnte man eine neue Staatsbibliothek bauen (aber offenbar keinen Flughafen). www.rbb24.de/kultur/beitr...
rbb24.de
Berliner Staatsbibliothek schließt für elf Jahre
Ab 2030 wird die Staatsbibliothek in Berlin-Tiergarten für elf Jahre zur Baustelle. Was bedeutet das für Besucher und was passiert mit den Millionen von Büchern in dieser Zeit?
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Surely I’m not the only one who thinks that Berlin Olympics ‘36 is best avoided. p.dw.com/p/57kv1
p.dw.com
Berlin launches Olympics bid
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Liebe deutsche Autoren, im Namen der Wissenschaft bitte ich Sie: Führen Sie in Ihren Büchern nicht nur Personenregister, sondern auch Sachregister.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
I read this document with ease. Another museum-goer, a Millennial, struggled to read it, but got most of it. My Gen Z progeny can only make out a few words. 🙁 #cursive #handwriting #paleography
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
The real birthday of the United States is July 2, 1776. The Smithsonian Institution should know better. (And the second explanation does finesse the difference by writing “adopted the Declaration of Independence” rather than writing “voted for independence” or “declared independence”).
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
I just learned that Arthur Scholem jr., the last of the prewar Germany-born Scholems, died only a few months ago at the age of 97. (His sister also lived into her late 90s.) I had never seen a photo of him. He looked remarkably similar to his famous uncle, Gershom Scholem.
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Reposted by Jay Geller
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk @ilkokowalczuk.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
1/Heute ist der 150. Geburtstag von Konrad Adenauer. Er gehört zu den Großen der deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Ob diese Zitate wirklich von ihm stammen, weiß ich nicht, aber
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
I'm just hearing about this controversy, but...WOW! www.boersenblatt.net/news/antiqua...
boersenblatt.net
Buchhändler einstimmig freigesprochen
Der Wiener Buchhändler Rainer Schaden ist vom Vorwurf, aus einem Nachlass Bücher aus der NS-Zeit angeboten und sich somit nationalsozialistisch wiederbetätigt zu haben, freigesprochen worden. Vor Geri...
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
I’m reading The Radetzsky March by Joseph Roth for the 4th time—but for the first time in 10 years. I had forgotten how complex & multilayered the story is. But Joachim Neugroschel’s translation is a problem. It’s not just clunky. It’s also full of outright mistakes as if it weren’t double-checked.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
In the German Federal Archive in Koblenz, I found a letter from Yale professor Hans Gatzke, who held the chair in German history at Yale before my own graduate advisor, to German Federal President Theodor Heuss, complaining about the quality of American graduate students (presumably in 🇩🇪 history).
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I love it when journalists and other non-academics casually cite Robert Darnton. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/o...
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
It's really a shame how larger publishers acquire smaller publishing houses, but end up dropping almost all of their titles. So huge numbers of great books go out of print. Rowman & Littlefield acquired Jason Aronson. But then Bloomsbury acquired Rowman & Littlefield. Most J.A. titles are now gone.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
I’ve never understood Very Famous Professors who can’t seem to be bothered to chitchat at conferences with or reply to emails from a) scholars at “lesser” universities or b) very junior scholars (unless they think those scholars are going to be Very Famous Professors one day).
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
2010 hörte ich Konrad Jarausch einen Vortrag halten, in dem er sagte, dass die Geschichte der DDR eines Tages einfach noch eine regionale deutsche Geschichte wäre, so wie z.B. die Geschichte des Kgr. Bayern. Laut Flüchter ist dieser Zeitpunkt im Grunde hier. www.deutschlandfunk.de/ddr-geschich...
deutschlandfunk.de
DDR-Geschichte als Teil der Zeitgeschichte lehren, Interview A. Flüchter, VDH
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
It’s so typical of the @nytimes.com that they report a culture story six weeks (!) after @theguardian.com. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/s...
nytimes.com
At Last, a Name for the Murderous Face in a Holocaust Photo
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Micha Brumlik ist gestorben ist. Das ist ein großer Verlust. www.fr.de/kultur/gesel...
fr.de
Micha Brumlik ist gestorben: Jüdische Intellektuelle wie ihn wird es bald nicht mehr geben
Der Philosoph und Pädagoge starb am Montag in Frankfurt – sein Wirken am Fritz-Bauer-Institut und sein humanistisches Erbe bleiben unvergessen.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
The @nytimes.com has reviewed the newest big book on the collapse of Weimar. The reviewer cites Peter Gay, Eric Weitz, and Harald Jähner. Weitz's book is great (though Berlin-centric, IMHO). Jähner's book is very recent. But Gay is an odd choice if you know the literature on this topic. 1/3
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Today, November 11, @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social is officially publishing its translation of "Effingers" by Gabriele Tergit. This multi-generation saga of a Jewish family in Berlin is a masterpiece, and I highly recommend it. www.nyrb.com/products/eff... 1/5
nyrb.com
Effingers
Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers is a novel, at once epic and intimate, about the lives and fates of three generations of a German Jewish family. Beginning in 1878 and ending in 1948, we follow the Effinge...
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Question for the historians of postwar Germany, especially those who focus on political culture: After 1945 (or 1949), was there tremendous bitterness and hatred among core SPD voters/members directed at their neighbors who had voted NSDAP between 1930 and 1933?
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Ich fand dieses Interview sehr lehrreich, um eine Stimme (oder eine Gruppe von Stimmen) zu verstehen, die im aktuellen politischen Medienklima übersehen wird. www.welt.de/kultur/artic...
welt.de
Zeruya Shalev: „Die israelische Seele hat sich in den letzten Jahren dramatisch verändert“ - WELT
Zeruya Shalev kam in einem Kibbuz am See Genezareth zur Welt, heute ist sie eine der berühmtesten Schriftstellerinnen Israels. Im Gespräch mit Constantin Schreiber richtet sie einen Appell an die Demo...
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Here's my hot take: Academic books are simply priced much too expensively. No one should pay $120 for a 175-page book. Even with a conference discount of 25% off, it's simply *much* too expensive.
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Question for the historians of European-US relations or historians of social movements in Europe: At the height of the Vietnam War (c. 1968-1973), there were lots of demonstrations in Europe against America’s war. Was there a mass movement for a blanket boycott of the United States and its citizens?
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
I have finally finished reading Effingers, @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social. It is an absolute masterpiece. There’s so much to think about with this book. (I can also see why it was a commercial failure when it first came out in German in 1951. It was a different era in terms of social discourse.)
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Jay Geller @jaygeller.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
It’s rare that I can say this, but right now, I’m reading an advance copy of a novel, and I cannot put it down. I’m completely immersed in it. I highly recommend @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social’s English translation of Gabriele Tergit’s “Effingers,” available for purchase on November 11.
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