Goethe-Universität — Press releases

Goethe University PR & Communication Department

Jul 24 2024

08:06

Volkswagen Foundation makes available more than €500,000 for funding initiative “Pioneer Projects – Explorations of the unknown Unknown”

The churches’ role in the Namibian struggle for independence

It was a long struggle before the Republic of Namibia finally became independent in 1990. What role did the intertwining of politics, church and theology play in the fight for freedom from South African mandate administration? That is the main question addressed by a new research project at Goethe University Frankfurt’s Faculty of Protestant Theology, funded by Volkswagen Foundation.

FRANKFURT. The Volkswagen Foundation is making available a total of €541,400 for the project, entitled “Decolonizing Postcolonialism. On the Intertwined History of Politics, Church and Theology in the Namibian Freedom Struggle (1957-1990)”. Project applicant is Prof. Stefan Michels, who teaches historical theology at Goethe University’s Faculty of Protestant Theology. “Religious-historical and theological research on Namibia mostly relates to the colonial period. There has hardly been any research on Namibia's contemporary church history. I am very pleased that the Volkswagen Foundation is funding our project, enabling us to expand our state of knowledge. I am also very grateful to the Centre for Interdisciplinary African Research [Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Afrikaforschung, ZiAF] for its support during the preparatory phase,” says Prof. Michels.

Namibia's political identity is the result of an eventful history spent between foreign rule and free self-determination: In 1884, the vast southwest African territory was declared a “protectorate” of the German Empire and remained a German colony – known as “German Southwest Africa” – until the end of the First World War. In 1920, it became a mandate territory of South Africa and thus placed under the sovereignty of the neighboring state, which in turn was shaped by the system of apartheid. Namibia gained independence on March 21, 1990, following military altercations between the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and the South African military, particularly in the years between 1960 and 1989, a period also known as the “Namibian liberation struggle”.

In the second half of the 20th century in particular, a variety of emancipation movements emerged in Namibia, which fed into the struggle for political independence, both with regard to the country’s political and ecclesiastical relations with Europe and South Africa. During Namibia’s colonization in the 19th century, the impact of which continues to shape contemporary social discourse in the country, Christian churches and religious communities established themselves in the country. These religious institutions remained in close contact with the churches of their countries of origin in the post-colonial period.

The project sets out to analyze the intertwining of politics, church and theology, with an additional focus on the question of what role the theology of liberation in particular played for a free Namibia. In addition to an examination of previously unrecorded archive material, the project also will include interviews with contemporary witnesses. Much like a network analysis, the resulting insights into the intertwining of church and politics could improve the fundamental understanding of the emancipation history of suppressed freedom aspirations as well as the roles played by churches and religion. Part from that, the findings also pave the way for further insights into “Black Liberation Theology” in southern Africa.

Michels and his team – the project includes two assistant and one postdoctoral position – are openly approaching the question of whether the role of the many different churches and church groups in Namibia's liberation struggle can be considered positive or inglorious. Preliminary research had shown that the liberation movement definitely encountered resistance – born out of concern over further communist-motivated aggression. On the other hand, individual partner churches in Germany had proactively supported the movement. To gain as comprehensive an overview as possible, Michels plans to work closely with Namibian research teams in the project, which to the scholar of church history could turn out to be just the beginning of an even larger research project.

The VW Foundation’s “Pioneer Projects: Explorations of the unknown Unknown” initiative is funding 15 high-risk projects with a total of €7.9 million. It supports projects that could lead to major breakthroughs in basic research – or fail to achieve their goals. In its own press release, the Volkswagen Foundation explicitly acknowledge the real risk of such a potential failure, thereby paving the way for taking the appropriate risks, and adding that, in the event of success, the potential for gaining new knowledge is great.

Further information
Prof. Dr. Stefan Michels
Professor of Church History
Faculty of Protestant Theology
Goethe University Frankfurt
Tel.: +49 (0)69 798-32404
E-Mail: michels@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Homepage: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/125981482/Michels__Prof__Dr__Stefan

Jul 3 2024

10:05

German Science and Humanities Council recommends strengthening the Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology

"A symbiosis of research institution and museum"

In its evaluation of the Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology at Goethe University Frankfurt, the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) acknowledged its research and transfer achievements. The Wissenschaftsrat also found that the institute plays a special role in German-speaking cultural anthropology because it embodies a successful symbiosis of research institution and museum.

FRANKFURT. Following an extensive evaluation, the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftfsrat, WR) has attested the Frobenius Institute at Goethe University, with its unique archives and collections, a special role in German-speaking cultural anthropology at the interface between research institution and museum. WR also recognized its outstanding, collection-based research and transfer achievements.

Given that different cultural concepts of humanity and the relationships between humans and the environment are central research topics in cultural anthropology, the discipline can deliver important impulses for current debates on the possibilities and risks of human coexistence. At the same time, anthropological research has to be particularly self-reflective, not least due to the oftentimes critical public perception of the discipline and museums as an institution.

Considering its financial and personnel resources, the Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology impressively meets this challenge, the Council’s evaluation found, adding that the Institute serves as an example worth emulating of how to bridge the gap between research institution and museum that is so characteristic of German-language cultural anthropology. "Since its current director took office in 2017, Frobenius Institute has undergone an extremely positive development and is providing excellent research and transfer services," says Wissenschaftsrat Chairman Wolfgang Wick, adding that these achievements are based on the Institute's archives and collections – unique in the world –, including the rock art archive, which has been nominated for UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” Program. The copies of rock paintings, some of which are no longer preserved in their original form, have been displayed from various thematic perspectives in several exhibitions across Germany and abroad.

In its evaluation, the Wissenschaftsrat also found that Frobenius Institute needs more staff for its broad spectrum of tasks, which range from research, to preserving and expanding collections, all the way to public relations. The Council warns that staffing levels could significantly constrain the Institute's performance in the medium term, and urgently recommends that additional positions be created.

The specific fields for which the Council has identified a particular need for support are central collection processing, easing the workload of researchers, making the archives and collections even more visible internationally, as well as for important digitization and data backup tasks.

"We are extremely pleased with this positive evaluation by the German Science and Humanities Council, especially the praise our researchers received for their great commitment. We feel vindicated in our work and would be grateful to see the political authorities strengthen our basic funding," says Frobenius Institute Director Roland Hardenberg, who is also a professor of anthropology at Goethe University Frankfurt.

Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology is a non-university research institute based in Frankfurt, whose offices are located in Goethe University’s IG Farben building. The Institute’s 12 permanent employees and 16 externally funded staff are free to use Goethe University’s infrastructure and funding opportunities, and it in turn makes its archive, library and collections available to the university’s students and researchers. It is also involved in teaching and a number of joint research projects. Frobenius Institute receives basic funding from the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, which had asked the Wissenschaftsrat to evaluate Frobenius Institute in 2021.

Images for download: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/154568851

Captions:
1) Local researchers of the Tacana, Tsimane' and Mosetén (Bolivia) visit the Frobenius Institute's rock art archive, 2024 (Photo: Jennifer Markwirth)
2) "Reclining man with horned mask": This copy of a rock painting from Zimbabwe, Rusape (place of discovery: Diana Vow), was made by artist Agnes Schulz in 1929. (Watercolor on paper, 105.5 × 147 cm, Frobenius Institute FBA-D3 01622-b)

Further information
PD Dr. Susanne Fehlings
Public Relations
Frobenius Institute for Resarch into Cultural Anthropology
Tel.: +49 (0)69 -798 33054
E-Mail: Fehlings@uni-frankfurt.de
Homepage: https://www.frobenius-institut.de/

Jun 28 2024

17:36

New federally funded LOEWE research focus on innovative cancer therapy at Goethe University Frankfurt

Why some tumors are resistant to cell therapies

LOEWE, the federal state of Hesse's research promotion program for the development of scientific and economic excellence, is providing €4.8 million in funding for a new research network spearheaded by Goethe University. The LOEWE research cluster CARISMa focuses on new therapies that use genetically modified endogenous immune cells, so-called CAR-T cells, to treat therapy-resistant types of cancer.

FRANKFURT. In congratulating the CARISMa scientists, Goethe University President Prof. Enrico Schleiff said: “The new LOEWE network sets up in Hesse an innovative research program that is currently gathering steam all over the world. It also expands Goethe University's existing research profile and broadens our network of cooperation partners in the field of CAR cell therapy [editor's note: CAR is the abbreviation for chimeric antigen receptor]. The network deliberately builds on our university's existing strengths in tumor biology, drug development and clinical oncology. In addition, our 'Molecular and Translational Medicine' profile area will also receive new impetus from the cell therapy focus."

The field of cell therapy is one of the most dynamic areas of modern hematology and oncology. During CAR therapy, the patient's own immune cells are genetically modified through the introduction of the CAR vector, enabling them to specifically recognize and immunologically kill tumor cells. CAR therapy has been successful in the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma where previous therapies have failed. So-called "solid" tumors, including malignant brain, pancreatic and intestinal tumors, on the other hand, have proven to be largely resistant to this therapy.

The new LOEWE focus "Optimization of CAR cell therapies by influencing the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment", or CARISMa for short, seeks to contribute to a better understanding of how this resistance of solid tumors comes about and how it can be prevented. The research focuses on how exactly CAR-T cells interact with the tumor and its tumor microenvironment and how novel CAR cell therapies can be developed to overcome this resistance. To this end, the project partners, who are already conducting joint research, will work even more closely together, transcending sites and disciplines.

In addition to Goethe University Frankfurt, the other partners in CARISMa are Philipps-Universität Marburg, the Georg Speyer Haus Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines), as well as the blood donor service of Baden-Württemberg-Hessen. The new LOEWE focus will also create synergies based on its cooperation with the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) and Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI), also a LOEWE center.

CARISMa's scientific coordinator is Prof. Thomas Oellerich from Goethe University Frankfurt's Faculty of Medicine, Medical Clinic II, and Frankfurt University Hospital. The research project will receive around €4.8 million in funding for four years, from 2025 to 2028.

Further information
Prof. Dr. Thomas Oellerich
Faculty of Medicine
Center of Internal Medicine
Medical Clinic II (Hematology, Oncology, Hemostaseology, Rheumatology, Infectiology)
Goethe University Frankfurt
oellerich@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Jun 28 2024

09:14

A new look at the years 1933 to 1945, edited by Christoph Cornelißen and Sybille Steinbacher

Frankfurt and National Socialism

How did Nazi rule and ideology take hold in Frankfurt's local politics and municipal administration? Which measures were taken to alter and adapt the economy of the metropolis on the Main River's shores? How were culture, education, and science coopted as part of the "Gleichschaltung"? The new volume "Frankfurt am Main and National Socialism," co-edited by Prof. Christoph Cornelißen and Prof. Sybille Steinbacher, addresses these questions and many more.

FRANKFURT. "When US troops crossed Frankfurt's city limits on March 26, 1945, National Socialist rule in Hessen's largest city finally collapsed." This is the first sentence of the article by Christoph Cornelißen, Professor of Modern History at Goethe University, on Frankfurt's strategies to come to terms with the Nazi era, just published in the anthology "Frankfurt is Main und der Nationalsozialismus". What happened before Gauleiter Jakob Sprenger and Lord Mayor Friedrich Krebs, as well as numerous Gestapo members and city officials, fled the city? A series of articles in the new historical anthology sheds light on how it all came about.

The book “Frankfurt am Main und der Nationalsozialismus. Herrschaft und Repression – Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft – Kultur und Gedächtnis" [“Frankfurt am Main and National Socialism. Rule and Repression – Economy and Society – Culture and Memory"], examines the city's Nazi past 75 years after the end of the war. The focus is on the rise, implementation, and perception of National Socialist policies in Frankfurt between 1933 and 1945. Prof. Christoph Cornelißen and his colleague Sybille Steinbacher, director of the Fritz Bauer Institute, have edited the historical anthology.

To this day, the history of Frankfurt between 1933 and 1945 has only been researched incompletely. That is why the editors realized the book project, focusing on the enforcement of Nazi rule in various areas of municipal politics and administration as well as the transformation of the economy and society – including topics such as urban planning, cultural developments, and National Socialist image policy. The anthology also traces how the new urban government and their many helpers launched violence against outsiders of the "people's community." In Frankfurt, too, Jews were the primary victims of racially motivated exclusion and persecution; almost 13,000 women, men, adolescents, and children were murdered or driven to their deaths in the Shoah between 1933 and 1945. Countless Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, and members of other groups, who often had to eke out an existence on the margins of society, suffered a similar fate. How much of an impact the Nazi regime's propaganda had, is illustrated by the unwavering loyalty of broad sections of the population, even as bombing raids reduced Frankfurt to rubble.

In addition to a foreword by the editors, the collection also features articles by Bettina Tüffers ("Die Frankfurter NSDAP vor dem Krieg" – The Frankfurt NSDAP before the war), Tobias Freimüller ("Gemeinschaftsfremd" – Alien to the community), Heike Drummer ("Stadt ohne Juden" – City without Jews), Markus Roth ("Widerstand" – Resistance), Ralf Banken ("Aufrüstung, ,Arisierung' und Zerstörung" – Rearmament, "Aryanization" and destruction), Nicole Kramer ("Fürsorgerische Ordnung" – Involuntary Order), Michael Fleiter ("Die Stadt im Bombenkrieg" – The city during the bomb war), Fabian Link ("Im Einsatz für die Weltanschauung" – On a mission for the worldview), C. Julius Reinsberg ("Das Ende der Moderne?" – The end of modernity?), and Christoph Cornelißen ("Eine Stadt auf der Suche nach Erinnerung" – A city in search of memory).

The volume also serves as volume 10 in the series Studien zur Geschichte und Wirkung des Holocaust [Studies on the History and Impact of the Holocaust], commissioned by the Fritz Bauer Institute. Moreover, it forms part of the “History of the City of Frankfurt" (Volume 5), commissioned by the Frankfurt Historical Commission. The book has been published by Wallstein Verlag. It is only available in German.

Publication: Frankfurt am Main und der Nationalsozialismus. HERRSCHAFT UND REPRESSION – WIRTSCHAFT UND GESELLSCHAFT – KULTUR UND GEDÄCHTNIS. Published by Christoph Cornelißen and Sybille Steinbacher. 500 pages, 55 illustrations, some in color.'
ISBN 978-3-8353-5587-3, €38

Photos from the anthology for download: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/154746985

Captions:
Photo 1: In the cellar of the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question: Chaplain Samuel Blinder sifts through Torah scrolls looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, July 6, 1945 (Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., photo number: 82978, photographer: Irving Katz, Courtesy)
Photo 2: Arrival of "Eastern workers" at the IG Farben plant in Hoechst, n.d. (Copyright: Hoechst company archive)
Photo 3: Memorial service at Frankfurt's Alte Oper in honor of the victims of the November pogroms and the "cleansing" of the artistic scene by the National Socialists, November 11, 1988 (Copyright: Institut für Stadtgeschichte Frankfurt am Main, S7FR, 80, Luigi Ungarisch)

Further information
Prof. Dr. Christoph Cornelißen / Prof. Dr. Sybille Steinbacher
Modern History / History and Impact of the Holocaust
Institute of History
Goethe University Frankfurt
Tel. +49 (0)69 798-32591
E-Mail cornelissen@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Homepage (in German) Goethe-Universität — Profil (uni-frankfurt.de)

Jun 27 2024

13:59

"Frankfurt-Tel Aviv Center" holds first Josef Horovitz Lecture at Goethe University Frankfurt

A protagonist of research into Jewish-Islamic relations

FRANKFURT. The inaugural conference of the new German-Israeli research center Frankfurt-Tel Aviv Center for Interreligious Studies was held in Frankfurt almost two years ago to the day; six months later, in Israel, the two university presidents officially signed the cooperation agreement between Goethe University Frankfurt and Tel Aviv University. Now the interdisciplinary Frankfurt-Tel Aviv Center in Frankfurt is holding the first Josef Horovitz Lecture, which is to take place annually from now on.

"The choice of name is anything but coincidental," explains Christian Wiese, Martin Buber Professor of Jewish Philosophy of Religion at Goethe University, who founded and heads the Frankfurt-Tel Aviv Center together with Prof. Menachem Fisch from Tel Aviv University. Josef Horovitz (1874-1931), a Jewish Professor of Oriental Studies who grew up in Frankfurt, was considered to be the non-Islamic world's foremost expert on the Qur'an at the time. He was also the founder of Oriental Studies in Frankfurt and a member of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's founding board of trustees. "Josef Horovitz was an outstanding protagonist of research into Jewish-Islamic relations and a committed advocate of international understanding in the spirit of enlightenment and mutual respect between religions," says Wiese. "He thus embodies one of the central goals of our center's interreligious research approach." July 26, 2024, marks the 150th anniversary of Horovitz's birth.

The first "Annual Josef Horovitz Lecture for the Study of Interreligious Dynamics"
entitled "Qohelet Illuminated: A New Reading and a New Seeing"
will take place
on Tuesday, July 2, 2024 at 6:15 p.m.
in Goethe University Frankfurt's Lecture Hall Center 10 (HZ 10), Westend Campus

The lecture will be held by American artist Debra Band and renowned Tel Aviv philosopher Prof. Menachem Fisch, who will present their joint book Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living (2023). Prof. Christian Wiese and Prof. Milette Shamir, Vice President of Tel Aviv University, will give welcoming addresses.

While Menachem Fisch's lecture is entitled "Rationality Time Bound: Qohelet's Pre-Revelatory Religious Philosophy", Debra Band will discuss the visual design of the Book of Qohelet in her lecture "Approaching Qohelet: Developing the Modern Visual Midrash". Both lectures will address the medieval tradition of illustration as well as postmodern theories on questions of life.

Menachem Fisch is Joseph and Ceil Mazer Professor Emeritus for the History and Philosophy of Science and Director of the Center for Religious and Interreligious Studies at Tel Aviv University as well as Senior Fellow of Goethe University Frankfurt's Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften – Institute for Advanced Studies. His research focuses, among others, on the philosophy of Talmudic legal thought and the significance of Talmudic discourses for question of religious plurality and difference.

Debra Band's work on Hebrew illuminated manuscripts stems from her enthusiasm for Hebrew manuscript art and biblical studies. A historian and political scientist by training, Debra Band's artistic work is not only characterized by intellectual and spiritual depth as well as visual beauty, it includes illuminated and silhouetted books and manuscript pieces that have been featured in exhibitions throughout the English-speaking world.

The Josef Horovitz Lecture is organized by the Frankfurt Tel Aviv Center, the Buber-Rosenzweig Institute for Jewish Intellectual and Cultural History at Goethe University's Faculty of Protestant Theology, and the "Dynamics of Religion" research network.

The lectures will be in English.

https://buber-rosenzweig-institut.de/events/einzelveranstaltung/annual-josef-horovitz-lecture-for-the-study-of-interreligious-dynamics-2024/

Registration (at kramberger@em.uni-frankfurt.de) is desired but not a prerequisite for attendance. Participants should be prepared for security measures such as bag checks.

Information
Dr. Judith Müller
Buber-Rosenzweig-Institut
jud.mueller@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Press releases – 2024