The Wohl Lecture 2025 - 'Warburg’s Geist in Nazi Germany'
Elizabeth Sears (George H. Forsyth Jr. Collegiate Professor emerita of History of Art, University of Michigan): 'Warburg’s Geist in Nazi Germany'
Famously, the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg fled Hamburg in the “Hitler Year” 1933 to reestablish itself in London as the Warburg Institute. This talk is set not in England but in Nazi Germany in the years following, when the library’s absence carried symbolic weight, and the conviction that Warburg’s spirit (Warburg’s Geist) somehow lived on was registered by foes and friends alike. The range of response is striking, as will be demonstrated through a series of probes which cumulatively indicate the complexity of the political situation and the force of the memory of Aby Warburg’s humanistic mission.
Supported by the Wohl Legacy, the Wohl Lectures focus on the impact of Jewish Heritage and learning on UK culture through the lens of the Warburg Institute.
ATTENDANCE FREE WITH ADVANCE BOOKING.
This page was last updated on 30 April 2025
