The rise of right wing movements across the globe, increasing polarisation and an alarming increase in anti-Semitism across Europe require us to look at the past and understand the politics and policies of exclusion we continue to witness today – and what we can do as stewards of good governance to combat against them.

In November 2020, the Hertie Foundation commissioned the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte to conduct a comprehensive study on the history of its assets. The independent study will be conducted Dr. Johannes Bähr and PD Dr. Ingo Köhler with a focus on the period from 1933 and will be published as a book-length project by the end of 2022.

As the work of Dr. Bähr and Dr. Köhler progresses, Acting President Mark Hallerberg would like to invite members of our community to explore the politics and policies of exclusion both in a historical and contemporary context. 
 

Upcoming event

Judicial legacies and accountability for NS crimes
Tuesday, 4.10.2022 | 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm (CEST) | Online and on-site

After the transition from an authoritarian regime, new democratic governments often face the challenge of dealing with people who served the former regime. In this context, the question often arises whether former collaborators in official functions support the new democratic polity or rather undermine it?

This event will discuss the question with reference to principles of transitional justice and the rule of law. Join Mark Hallerberg and the Hertie School community to explore transitional justice and the rule of law by focusing on the legacy of judges with ties to the Nazi regime in the West German judiciary. Georg Vanberg will provide a keynote address, followed by an open Q&A.

Learn more and register here.

Past events

Consequences of the Nazi regime for firms | 30.03.2021

The launch event of the series took place on Tuesday, 30 March 2021, and featured Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Joachim Scholtyseck. Dr. Scholtyseck discussed the policy tools the National Socialists used to suppress the economic growth or success of Jewish-owned firms in Germany. The event, moderated by our Dean of Executive Education Andrea Römmele, explored the origins and consequences of enforced reorganisation on companies and organisations in Germany after the Nazis came to power.

 

Policies of exclusion today | 11.05.2021

The second event in the series took place on Tuesday, 11 May 2021, and discussed what processes change a society into an exclusionary community and with which impulses and procedures institutions in democracies respond to the pressures they are under.

The Hertie School welcomed Daniel Ziblatt, award-winning author and director of the research unit Transformations of Democracy at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) to deliver a keynote lecture, addressing topics from his best-selling book, "How Democracies Die".  Dean of Graduate Programmes and Professor of European Politics Christine Reh moderated an open discussion with Professor Ziblatt following his remarks.

Watch the recording on YouTube.

Forced labour and labour law that excludes | 18.11.2021

On Thursday, 18 November 2021, Hertie School's Professor of Organization and Governance Sébastien Mena moderated the third event of the series, which discussed contemporary issues regarding forced labour and the promise and limits of government efforts to eradicate it from supply chains. Genevieve LeBaron, Director and Professor at Simon Fraser University's School of Public Policy in Vancouver and PI of ReStructure Lab, provided a keynote address.

Missed the event? watch the recordig here.

Border anxiety in a globalising world | 23.05.2022

In a talk on 23 May 2022, Beth Simmons, Andrea Mitchell Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor of Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, presented insights from her research on the growing attention to border security and the consequences of secured borders. Simmons delivered a keynote lecture, which addressed the trends in border hardening over the past two decades, and discussed its causes and consequences of growing border anxiety on a global scale. Professor of International Affairs and Security at the Hertie School Julian Wucherpfennig moderated the discussion.

Missed the event? Watch the recording here.

 

Photo credit: © Landesarchiv Berlin