Alfred Landecker Foundation Lectureship Programme

Funding over five years for universities in Europe and Israel to host a lectureship position for an early career postdoctoral academic whose work is of relevance to the history and consequences of the Holocaust and current social and political challenges facing democratic coexistence.

The Alfred Landecker Foundation was established in 2019 (originally the ‘Benckiser Stiftung Zukunft’) to investigate the history of the family-owned company Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH (now the JAB Holding Company) and the links that its founders, the Reimann family, had to the Nazi party. After publishing the results of the research, the Reimann family expanded the remit of the Foundation and committed €250 million over the next ten years to suppport research into the causes and consequences of the Holocaust, combating anti-Semitism, protecting minorities, and strengthening social cohesion and democratic coexistence.

The Alfred Landecker Lecturer Programme will provide funding over five years to enable universities in Europe and Israel to host a lectureship position for an early career postdoctoral researcher from a humanities and social sciences background conducting research and teaching on topics relevant to the history and consquences of the Holocast, including:

• The history and aftermath of the Holocaust
• The social and political transmission of memory of the Holocaust
• The influence of conspiracy ideologies
  
• Group-based enmity (for example antisemitism and racism) as a structural threat to democracy

The Foundation is explicitly seeking applications with innovative approaches that relate to present day challenges regarding the politics of memory and democracy, including projects that deal with the methods and practices for educating and imparting knowledge about history and threats to democracy in the digital age. The programme specifically welcomes applications that entail ideas for how to communicate the research scientifically to a broader audience outside the academic world.