Spanien und Sepharad

There is an increasing interest in Jewish culture and heritage all over Europe, cities and entire regions are rediscovering their Jewish past. Although the Spanish case is not exceptional, somehow it shows its particularities. In the Middle Ages the Iberian Peninsula was the centre of Jewish life until the expulsion of the Jews by the so-called Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabel. This historic event interpreted as religious and therefore national unification has been crucial for the national Spanish identity over a long time, nowadays the epoque until 1492 is remembered and glorified as a golden era of convivencia between the three cultures, Christianity, Islam and Jewry.
This study investigates how the Jewish past has been remembered and forgotten during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, the transition period and the democratic decades since 1982. It further examines the state s attitude towards the small Jewish community in Spain and towards Jewry in general. Analyzing the political, social and legal conditions for Jewish life on the one hand, and the changing official memory on the other hand, it becomes clear that politics of remembrance, religious minorities and foreign relations are strongly interwoven.

Dr. phil. Anna Lena Menny ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden in Hamburg.