The legend of the Wandering Jew has been portrayed throughout history in many different languages, cultures and forms. This travelling exhibition showcases how, despite its origins in Christian medieval legend, the Wandering Jew has been reimagined by Jewish artists and writers, and has become a vehicle for tolerance and the celebration of harmonious Christian/Jewish relations from the 19th century until today. The Wandering Jew serves as a motif for the creative richness that comes from movement and encounter, reframing diaspora as something with potential for imagination, rather than as punishment. Whilst the exhibition considers how the legend has been weaponised, such as for Nazi propaganda as ‘Der ewige Jude’, it also highlights how Jewish artists have reclaimed the figure from these antisemitic manifestations to consider their place in a post-Holocaust world.
Join curator Anoushka Alexander-Rose, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southampton, in conversation with David Rudrum, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Huddersfield, for a conversation scrutinising the particular Holocaust temporality and implications for the legend, and exploring the origins of the Wandering Jew for German literary and artistic culture.
This exhibition has been funded by the German Historical Society and the Jewish Historical Society of England, with additional support from the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations at the University of Southampton.