Citing Violence, Inciting Critique. Karl Kraus, 1933

Conference organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp in cooperation with Gal Hertz (ZfL and Tel Aviv University).

»To me, nothing comes to mind about Hitler« (Mir fällt zu Hitler nichts ein) is the famous opening line of Karl Kraus’s analysis of the first months of National Socialism. This 300-page fragment was written between May and September 1933, and first published only in 1952 as Third Walpurgis Night.

The conference will seek to read this text by Kraus, paying attention to the political, historical and cultural conflicts of this decisive year of Hitler’s rise to power. We will discuss this topic in a transnational perspective that also takes into account developments in Austria, Italy, and other countries. Additionally, the conference seeks to place Kraus’s writings in dialog with a broader spectrum of voices, including literary, theatrical, philosophical, historical, or others (e.g. Brecht, Benjamin, Arendt).