27 students and guests gathered on Thursday, November 6, to commemorate  the eight deported Jews , who were handed over to Gestapo in Helsinki on Nov 6, 1942, and taken to Auschwitz. The ”stumbling stone” dedicated to Hans Szybilski (Installed in 2022) is on the street outside of the address Vartiovuorenkatu 1 in Turku, which became his last home before the deportation. He and 6 others were murdered in Auschwitz. The evening continued in Auditorum Theologicum. The main speaker of the evening was Dr. Mercédesz Czimbalmos (ÅAU), a leading expert on contemporary antisemitism in Finland.

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The Research Conference in Theology and Religion invites and gathers researchers of the field to the unique joint national conference on 22nd to 24th of May, 2024, in Turku!

Call for papers is published.

Institutum Judaicum Aboense is the host of the session

Jewish Studies in Finland Today

This session focuses on the present day research in Jewish studies – other than the research on antisemitism – in Finland (N.B. the exclusion of the research on antisemitism is only pragmatic; there will be a special conference session dedicated to this topic). Within the frame of this session, the definition Jewish studies is understood in the broadest interdisciplinary sense and should not be restricted merely to studies taking place in the departments of Theology or Study of Religion. It is desirable that in this forum the breadth of the academic study of Judaism becomes visible, and topics ranging from antiquity to present day as well as from textual studies to aspects of lived religion, and anything in between, are welcome.

Session leaders:

Pekka Lindqvist, Åbo Akademi University/Institutum Judaicum Aboense, pekka.lindqvist@abo.fi

Riikka Tuori, University of Helsinki

Warmly welcome to the open lecture by Prof. Galia Sabar

”Ethiopian Jews: the long quest for Zion”

on Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 15.00 in Runda rummet, Department of Theology, Biskopsgatan / Piispankatu 16, Åbo / Turku

The lecture will be streamed in Zoom. Link will be send to those who have registered themselves by e-mail to pekka.lindqvist@abo.fi no later than Monday, October 2.
(Registration only for the online-participants.)

An article written on the basis of the Institutum Judaicum Aboense evening on antisemitism at Åbo Akademi University, May 8, 2023. Author: Elina Takala. Sanansaattaja 11/2023.

Click here for the pdf: Antisemitismi_Sanansaattaja.pdf.

Monday, 8 May 2023, at 17.30-19.30 in Auditorium Theologicum, Department of Theology (Biskopsgatan 16, Åbo)

Dr. Paavo Ahonen: Lutheran priests and antisemitism in late 19^th and early 20^th century Finland

Doc. André Swanström: Finnish SS-men, military chaplains, and antisemitism

Dr. Mercédesz Czimbalmos: “Actually, criminalising Judaism sounds quite good!” – New waves of antisemitism in Finland 

Discussion

The evening will be streamed in Zoom. Those wishing to participate via Zoom, should register themselves per e-mail to pekka.lindqvist@abo.fi no later than Fri, 5 May.

A New Philosemitism?: Catholic Perceptions of Judaism and Jewish Identity in Israel

Professor Lena Roos (Södertörn University, Stockholm): ”The Western Wall and Theories of Conspiracy: Jews and Judaism in Swedish Schools”

47 minutes

Four open lectures on Jewish topics

In November in Theologicum, Piispankatu/Biskopsgatan 16, Turku/Åbo

In December in Arken (Auditorium Armfelt), Tehtaankatu/Fabriksgatan 2, Turku/Åbo

All are warmly welcome! No pre-registration. Sessions take approximately 90 minutes (incl. discussion).

November 9th, 17.00

An evening in the memory of Kristallnacht (November, 9th-10th, 1938)

Victims, Survivors, and “Authentic” Sites of Nazi Persecution

Victoria Van Orden Martínez (PhD candidate in History, Linköping University, Sweden)

Theologicum

November 14th, 18.00 

Yiddish Gems in the Finnish Harry Orvomaa Record Collection 

Simo Muir (Senior Lecturer in Yiddish, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Sweden)

Theologicum

November 28th, 17.00 

Constructing Public Judaism in Sweden: between synagogues, architects and congregations 

Daniel Leviathan (PhD candidate in Jewish studies, Lund University, Sweden)

Theologicum

December 12th, 18.00

The Western Wall and Theories of Conspiracy: Jews and Judaism in Swedish Schools

Lena Roos (Professor, Study of Religion, Södertörn University)

Arken, Aud. Armfelt

This lecture will be also streamed in Zoom.