Selig Brodetsky Memorial Lecture 2024

For this year's lecture, we welcome Dr František Šístek (Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague) who will speak on 'Balkan Jews: Hidden History'.

Until the beginning of the 21st century, scholars, Jewish community leaders from other countries and the general public believed that Jews had never lived in Montenegro, the smallest and least populous republic of former Yugoslavia, a mountainous land on the southeastern shore of the Adriatic sea. However, several years after Montenegro's declaration of independence in 2006, the Jewish Community of Montenegro was founded and Judaism recognized as the fourth traditional confession of the new state.

There are several hundred Jews living in the country today, organized in two communities, and they are very active and publicly visible. Jewish places of memory and Jewish infrastructure, including synagogues and kosher catering, now also attract visitors from abroad. This seemingly sudden and surprising appearance of Jews in a country where no organized Jewish community had previously existed will be the subject of the 2024 Selig Brodetsky Memorial Lecture.

About Dr František Šístek

Dr František Šístek is a research fellow at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague and lecturer at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague.

He focuses on the history of former Yugoslavia (especially Montenegro), nationalism and modernization, images and stereotypes of the Balkans, competing interpretations of the past in Southeastern and Central Europe, cultural history and contemporary Balkan culture.

Book cover for The Jews of Montenegro: From Invisibility to a Community by František Šístek. Image shows motif of a menorah based on the decorations from a Jewish tomb discovered in the necropolis of the Roman town of Dioclea, near present day Podgorica (design by Dejan Batricevic).

Venue

The lecture will take place in the Liberty Building (Moot Court) Lecture Theatre (1.28) on the University of Leeds campus. See campus map for location information.

It is free to attend and all are welcome. There is no need to book in advance.

It is also possible to attend via Zoom. For further information about the lecture or a Zoom link, please email [email protected].

About the Selig Brodetsky Memorial Lectures

This series of annual lectures was established in memory of Selig Brodetsky (1888-1954), who occupied the Chair of Applied Mathematics at the University of Leeds from 1924 to 1948. Following Brodetsky's death in 1954 a number of his friends and admirers founded the series of memorial lectures that bears his name. Each year a lecture is delivered that addresses some aspect of Jewish studies and/or science and mathematics.

The Brodetsky lectures are organized by the Centre for Jewish Studies, in collaboration with the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science (School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science) and the School of Mathematics.

Image

Motif of a menorah based on the decorations from a Jewish tomb discovered in the necropolis of the Roman town of Dioclea, near present day Podgorica. Design by Dejan Batricevic.