The year of Jewish Culture in Saxony

As part of the accompanying course “Jewish Daily Life in Germany: Between Civil Rights, Anti-Semitism, and #NeverAgain,” Esther Kontarsky will give a public lecture on April 22 at 6:30 p.m. on the topic “Phoenix Rising from the Ashes? An Examination of Jewish Continuity and Discontinuity in Germany after 1945.” The event also serves as a contribution by TUD to the TACHELES Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony.

The event is open to TUD-members as well as external guests. To attend, please send an email with your name to culture@tu-dresden.de. The event location will be provided after registration.

The long-held notion that the (Western) world would increasingly become a place where religions lose their significance and eventually disappear altogether has proven to be false. In both social and political spheres, religions are once again playing a more prominent role—as systems of meaning and guidance, as social and charitable institutions, but also as agents in the “clash of cultures” and violent political conflicts.

Against this backdrop, a basic understanding of the major religions is a crucial prerequisite—not only for prospective teachers—for comprehending the current religious-political landscape, identifying areas of conflict in interreligious dialogue, and distinguishing between the integrative and conflict-exacerbating potentials of religions.

In the first of two consecutive lectures, Prof. em. Daniel Krochmalnik will provide a basic understanding of central tenets of the Jewish faith, followed by a second lecture that will shed light on issues of interreligious dialogue and the complex problems of political religion. 

The lectures are part of the course “Of Humans and Gods: An Introduction to the Monotheistic World Religions” offered by the Chair of Systematic Theology at the IKTh of TUD.

To attend the first lecture, please click on the Zoom link.

Lomir redn yidish! Let's speak Yiddish! In this language course, you will learn how to hold simple conversations in Yiddish and practice reading and writing the Hebrew alphabet. You will also gain insight into the history of Yiddish and learn why it sounds a bit like German, but is still a language in its own right. No prior knowledge is required.

• Instructor: Dr. Annelie Bachmeier, Institute of Slavic Studies
• Target group: employees and students.
• Location: Fritz-Foerster-Bau, Room 148
• Registration via OPAL.

The long-held notion that the (Western) world would increasingly become a place where religions lose their significance and eventually disappear altogether has proven to be false. In both social and political spheres, religions are once again playing a more prominent role—as systems of meaning and guidance, as social and charitable institutions, but also as agents in the “clash of cultures” and violent political conflicts.

Against this backdrop, a basic understanding of the major religions is a crucial prerequisite—not only for prospective teachers—for comprehending the current religious-political landscape, identifying areas of conflict in interreligious dialogue, and distinguishing between the integrative and conflict-exacerbating potentials of religions.

In this second lecture on the topic, Professor Emeritus Daniel Krochmalnik highlights issues related to interfaith dialogue and the complex issues surrounding political religion.

The lectures are part of the course “Of Humans and Gods: An Introduction to the Monotheistic World Religions” offered by the Chair of Systematic Theology at the IKTh of TUD.

To attend the second lecture, please click on the Zoom link.

Starting in the summer semester of 2026, the faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences as TU Dresden is offering a new accompanying course, "Jewish Everyday Life in Germany. Between Civil Rights, Antisemitism and #neveragain", under the direction of Prof. Dr. Maria Häusl. The course is an interdisciplinary cooperation between various chairs of the faculty and Jewish institutions and communities, which aims to give students who are in teacher training at TU Dresden a glimpse into the diversity of Jewish life in Germany and to prepare them to prevent antisemitism in educational contexts and in everyday life. The registration for the accompanying course for all students from the second semester of studies upward will be possible from the 02.02.2026 to the 15.03.2026.

• Target group: student teachers
• Further information here.