Public Lecture: Professor Susan Neiman in Conversation with Professor Mary Fulbrook

A collaboration between the Jewish Literary Foundation’s Jewish Book Week and the Vera Fine-Grodzinski Programme for Jewish Women’s Voices

Philosopher and writer Susan Neiman brings four decades of experience to this compelling discussion with UCL Professor of German History Mary Fulbrook. They ask:

What is it like to be an American Jew living in modern Germany?

Offering unique personal and historical insights, Neiman vividly recounts life in Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. A former academic at Yale and Tel Aviv University, she is the author of Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil and currently serves as director of the Einstein Forum in Berlin.

Speaker Details:

Susan Neiman is an American philosopher and writer known for her work on the Enlightenment, moral philosophy, metaphysics, and politics, showcasing philosophy as a vital force for contemporary thought and action.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Civil Rights Movement, she left high school to join peace and justice activism. Neiman later earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard in 1986, studying under John Rawls and Stanley Cavell. After spending six years in Berlin as a writer and scholar, she taught philosophy at Yale and Tel Aviv University before becoming director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam in 2000.

A member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Neiman has held prestigious fellowships and authored nine award-winning books, translated into 15 languages. Her essays appear in leading publications like The New York Times, The Guardian, Die Zeit, and Der Spiegel.

Mary Fulbrook, FBA, is Professor of German History at UCL, with academic credentials from Cambridge (BA, MA) and Harvard (AM, PhD). Her roles at UCL include Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences (2013–18), Vice-Dean for Interdisciplinarity (2010–13), and nearly 12 years as Head of the German Department (1995–2006). She has also served on UCL Council and directed the UCL European Institute.

Fulbrook's wider commitments include advisory roles for the Memorial Foundation for Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora, the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, Yad Vashem Studies, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She has chaired the British Academy's Modern History Section, served on the Council of the British Academy, and advised organisations like the German Historical Institute London and the Willy Brandt Foundation. Notably, she was the first female Chair of the German History Society and a founding Editor of its journal, German History.

Further Details and Contacts:

Jewish Women’s Voices is an initiative set up in collaboration between Dr Kate Kennedy, Director of the ‘Oxford Centre for Life-Writing’, and Dr Vera Fine-Grodzinski, a scholar of Jewish social and cultural history.

The Programme is the first of its kind at any UK academic institution. Launched in October 2023, the Programme celebrates the life-writing of Jewish women often underrepresented in mainstream history accounts. The Programme is a three-term seminar series dedicated to exploring the diverse experiences of Jewish women across centuries, countries, and cultures. Further information about the Programme can be found here. 

This event is a collaboration between the Jewish Women’s Voices programme and the Jewish Literary Foundation’s Jewish Book Week, London’s longest-running literary festival. Taking place from 1–9 March 2025 at Kings Place in London, the festival features over 80 conversations, performances, workshops, debates, and talks. Further information about the festival can be found here.

Queries regarding this event should be addressed to The Jewish Literary Foundation’s Jewish Book Week.