Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History

03/09/2025

📢 CALL FOR PAPERS!
𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐚𝐡: 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 – 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

The guest editors of 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡: 𝐼𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 – 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐶𝐷𝐸𝐶 invite researchers working on antisemitism, persecution, reparations, and post-war reintegration to submit their contributions.

🗓 Deadline for applications: October 5, 2025
🔗 Find out more and apply here 👉

The study of the Shoah and its impact on Jewish communities under colonial rule in Fascist Italy and Vichy France has witnessed significant scholarly development in recent years. Whereas in the past Jews from these territories were largely absent from mainstream Holocaust narratives, their experienc...

06/08/2025

We just published our latest issue, available in open access!

(𝐄)𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐩𝐬: 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭
edited by Piera Rossetto, Aviad Moreno and Emir Galilee

From the introduction:

The migration of Jews from Muslim-majority countries between the 1940s and the 1970s—the departure of roughly 900,000 individuals from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) lands—was one of the most significant demographic transformations in modern Jewish history. Migration is rarely just the movement of a population across space; it is almost always, especially when occurring on a massive scale, a disruption, a recalibration, and a profound reimagining of the self and the migrating group in relation to space. As such, it is deeply emotional and the cartographies it generates are encoded with affect.

(...)

It was not until recent decades that scholars began to utterly interrogate the multiplicity of Jewish migration experiences and examine how emotions—particularly nostalgia, fear, pride, and shame—shaped the ways Jews navigated their exits, remembered their pasts, and redrew their affective geographies. By understanding the emotional charge embedded in these migrations, as we hope to show in this issue, we obtain an essential point of departure for rethinking how geography is imagined, felt, and remembered by displaced populations.

Read the complete issue here: https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it

Ph | Collage by Zohar Gannot, 2025

05/11/2024

We are thrilled to announce the release of the latest issue of Quest!

𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 (𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟗-𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟒), edited by Klaus Richter and Ulrich Wyrwa

1. Péter Buchmüller and Ágnes Katalin Kelemen, “The Great Depression and its Effect on Hungarian Jews”
2. Daniela Bartáková, “Jewish News and Reflections on the Great Depression in Czechoslovakia”
3. Klaus Richter, “Jews, the Great Depression, and the “Lithuanianisation” of the National Economy”
4. Paula Oppermann, “The World Economic Crisis. Jewish Experiences and Responses in Latvia”

Quest n. 26 also includes a thought-provoking 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 on Daniel Boyarin's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑜-𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝐴 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜 by Arie M. Dubnov and insightful book 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬:

- Mara Josi, 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑒 16 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 1943: 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦, 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑦, 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
by Michele Sarfatti

- Sharon Hecker and Raffaele Bedarida, eds., 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐹𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚: 𝐸𝑥ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑖 𝑡𝑜 𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦
by Francesco Cassata

- Magda Teter, 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑦: 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓
𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚
by Matteo Caponi

- Tamás Turán, 𝐼𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑧 𝐺𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑧𝑖ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑂𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡: 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙
𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦
by George Y. Kohler

- Liat Steir-Livny, 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐷𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
by Guido Vitiello

- Omer Bartov, 𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠: 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑈𝑛𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡
by Hana Kubátová

𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/

11/09/2024

In the latest issue of Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History, Marius Turda and Anton Weiss-Wendt discuss Ari Koskovitz’s book ‘Rain of Ash. Roma, Jews and the Holocaust’, Princeton UP, 2023.

See also links in the comments for the various contributions and the author’s reply.

On Ash and Blackness: Roma Victims of the Holocaust After decades of neglect, the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti peoples—sometimes referred to as the “forgotten Holocaust”—has finally captured the attention of scholars and the general public alike. This year alone, two major studies are mad...

11/09/2024

Our latest issue is online and available in open access!

𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐚 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

This is a miscellaneous issue, publishing four research articles and a review essay, covering several topics in modern Jewish history, focusing primarily on the first half of the twentieth century. The underlying thread of these articles may be the calamitous events that affected Jews in Europe, given the disrupting impact of war and violence throughout the first part of the century. Space is also a recurring theme, both in the form of movement—through migration, exile or displacement—and in the form of confinement and segregation.

ENJOY THE READING!

https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/

25/01/2024

Our latest issue is online and available in open access!
𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝟏𝟐𝟎𝟎-𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟎
edited by Francesca Bregoli

This special issue of Quest presents new research on experiences and perceptions of Jewish masculinity in medieval northwestern Europe and early modern Polish and Italian lands between 1200 and 1800.

This issue includes also two articles in the section Research Paths, one discussion and three reviews.

ENJOY THE READING!
https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it

Issue24 / n.2 (2023) Focus Jewish Masculinities, 1200-1800 edited by Francesca Bregoli Introduction by Francesca Bregoli Conversion and Masculinity in Thirteenth-Century England: One Man’s Decision to Leave the Priesthood for Judaism by Rebekah Sewell Between Rabbinic and Knightly Masculinities: C...

29/08/2023

Our latest issue is online and available in open access!

𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
edited by Anna Lissa

This new issue of Quest includes a collection of essays that reaffirms the significance of the Human-Animal Studies approach in the realm of Jewish and Modern Hebrew literature. This approach opens up new avenues for interpreting and comprehending both old and contemporary texts, not only as Jewish and Hebrew works but also as contributions to the universal literary heritage. Ultimately, this collection highlights the ongoing relevance of exploring the human-animal dynamic in literature and the interconnectedness of various fields of study.

The issue also includes one research article on antisemitism in nineteenth century french colonial algerian writings, two book discussions and five book reviews on a variety of topics.

ENJOY THE READING!
https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it

Ph | Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625), Studies of animals (donkeys, cats and monkeys), color on oak wood, 34,2 x 55,5 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

23/03/2023

Our latest issue is online and available in open access!

𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐚 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐
edited by Quest Editorial Staff

This new issue of Quest offers readers a miscellaneous content with six research articles devoted to a variety of topics covering jewish history in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The articles are not linked by a specific common thread: some explore the theme of religious conversion from different points of view. David Guedj's article is dedicated to the affirmation of Judeo-Arab non-fiction literature in Morocco during the first half of the twentieth century, while Livia Tagliacozzo analyzes Jewish-Muslim relations in Libya under the Italian colonial administration during the Second World War. Finally, Marcella Simoni's article focuses on the Jewish population of Baghdad.

This latest issue also inaugurates the new section "Review essay" with an essay by Arie M. Dubnov dedicated to the Israeli poet Nathan Alterman. Finally, the “Reviews” section publishes concise but critical presentations of eight books dedicated to a wide range of topics.

Enjoy the reading!
https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/
Ph | Wedding in Tripoli, 1940. CDEC Archive

31/10/2022

La RevueAlarmer a pour ambition première de mettre à la disposition d’un large public des connaissances et des savoirs scientifiques sur les racismes et l’antisémitisme.

25/10/2022

Our latest issue is online and available in open access!

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐡: 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟎𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟎𝐬
edited by Verena Buser and Chiara Renzo

This monographic issue deals with the history of the hachsharah (pl. hachsharot), a term meaning literally “preparation” in Hebrew, but whose translation or interpretation varied among “collective farm,” “vocational training,” “retraining center” and “agricultural training.” Though the nature of hachsharot varied in space and time, the term steadily referred to the practical preparation of young Jews for emigration to Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel), through both mental and physical training based on work, collective living, and the study of the Hebrew language, Jewish history and culture.

Through this issue, our shared goal is to re-discuss the role of the hachsharot and depict the complex and nuanced reality of life within them, questioning the Zionist affiliation of their participants and challenging the idea of hachsharah as a warm and welcoming environment serving as the stepping stone for aliyah.

Furthermore the issue also includes an editorial on the new Venue of the Fondazione CDEC, two book discussions and four book reviews on a variety of topics.

Enjoy the reading!

https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/

Ph | Aldouby and representatives of the groups “Nitzanim” and “Dror” from the youth village inS anta Maria al Bagno during the joint Sukkot celebration of the UNRRA DP camps in Lecce province, southernItaly, 1946,Photo 23/1, Aldouby’s Private Collection, Jerusalem, Israel.

07/09/2022

Check it out!
The latest book by one of our Editors.
Dario Miccoli, A Sephardi Sea. Jewish Memories across the Modern Mediterranean
Dario Miccoli
https://iupress.org/9780253062932/a-sephardi-sea/

A Sephardi Sea tells the story of Jews from the southern shore of the Mediterranean who, between the late 1940s and the mid-1960s, migrated from their countr...

05/04/2022

𝐃𝐞𝐬 𝐒é𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐱 𝐉𝐮𝐢𝐟𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐬. 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐦é𝐦𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭é. 𝐍𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 é𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭é𝐞

In our latest issue, Dimitrios Varvaritis discusses Odette Varon-Vassard's book: a collection of nine essays on the history and culture of the jews of Greece.

«This book is an important work on Greek-Jewish and Holocaust history and memory. It provides a crucial opening both for the general reader and for the specialist».