Project description
The rise and fall of pro-Palestinian activism and the German Left
The discussion of pro-Palestinian activism in West Germany during the 1960s and 1980s is extensive. Given the legacy of the Holocaust and prior support for Israel by the West German left, this issue presents a particular puzzle. Supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the PalSol project delves into the evolving support for Palestinian politics in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1980s. By examining Palestinian and German archives in tandem, the project aims to grasp the role of migration and connections to the Middle East in shaping solidarity politics within the West German left. Furthermore, the project explores the influence of the Palestinian diaspora on leftist politics spanning from Beirut to Bonn.
Objective
This project studies the shifting trajectory of pro-Palestinian activism in West Germany, between the 1950s and 1980s. At its center is the question of how we can explain that contemporaries in West Germany began to support Palestinian politics and later withdrew their solidarity. In order to answer this question, the project will study for the first time Palestinian and German archives together. With this approach, it proposes a new focus on the role of migration and ties to the Middle East for solidarity politics in the West German left.
The reasons for the rise of Palestine solidarity movements during the 1960s and their decline in the 1980s are a much-discussed topic in the history of the Western European left. With the legacy of the Holocaust and an earlier support for Israel in the West German left, this trajectory is particularly puzzling in the case of the Federal Republic. Historians have sought to explain this puzzle by focusing on continuities in the history of Antisemitism and a changed perception of Israel after the Six-Day War of 1967.
PalSol breaks new ground by studying Palestinian sources on the solidarity movement in West Germany. These sources provide a fresh vista on everyday interactions and the role of the Palestinian diaspora in bridging leftist politics between places like Beirut and Bonn. Pursuing a transregional approach, the project promises to shed light on how political struggles in Europe and the Middle East became integrated and disintegrated between the 1950s and 1980s
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
4000 Roskilde
Denmark