Shulamit Volkov: Meritorious award for anti-Semitism research!

Shulamit Volkov: Meritorious award for anti-Semitism research!

On September 18, 2025 it was announced that Prof. em. Dr. Shulamit Volkov will be awarded the prestigious Meyer Struckmann Prize 2023 from the Faculty of Philosophy at Heinrich Heine University. The prize, which is endowed with 20,000 euros, has been awarded annually since 2006 and highlights outstanding achievements in the cultural and humanities. The award ceremony is scheduled for October 2023.

Prof. Volkov, an Israeli historian, has been active in anti-Semitism research since the 1970s. Her groundbreaking theory of anti-Semitism as a “cultural code” is considered a significant contribution to historical scholarship. In her numerous monographs and essays she combines historical depth with analytical originality. The prize jury particularly emphasizes her ability to interweave German, Jewish and European history and to analyze anti-Semitism in the context of social modernization processes.

Research and publications

Shulamit Volkov was born in Tel Aviv in 1942 and studied history and philosophy at the universities of Jerusalem and Berkeley. She is Professor Emeritus of Modern European History at Tel Aviv University and a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences. Her academic career includes, among other things, heading the Institute of German History from 1985 to 1993 and heading the School of History at Tel Aviv University. She worked as a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin and at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich and has taught as a visiting professor at various universities in Europe and the USA.

Volkov's research topics are broad and include German social history, the history of Jews in Germany, anti-Semitism, the Enlightenment and the historiography of National Socialism. Her most important publications include:

• Deutschland aus jüdischer Sicht. Eine andere Geschichte vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart (2022).
• Germans, Jews and Antisemites: Trials in Emancipation (2006).
• Walther Rathenau: Ein jüdisches Leben in Deutschland (2012).
• Interpreting Antisemitism: Studies and Essays on the German Case (2023, in Paperback 2025).

The context of anti-Semitism research

The Meyer Struckmann Prize, which is financed from the estate of the banker Fritz Meyer-Struckmann, promotes science and research in the field of cultural studies and the humanities. Every year the jury decides on the research field for the award ceremony. In 2023 the prize will be awarded for the 17th time. Previous award winners include Prof. Dr. Hartmut Böhme, Prof. Dr. Shmuel Feiner and Prof. Dr. Monica Juneja.

In this context, the interdisciplinary Center for Anti-Semitism Research (ZfA) at the Technical University of Berlin is of considerable importance. It deals with the processes of exclusion, hostility and violence in the past and present, with a focus on anti-Semitic stigmatization. Other forms of social hatred, such as antigypsyism and racism, are also taken into account in the research. The ZfA attaches great importance to the peculiarities of the various forms of exclusion and violence as well as their similarities.

Prof. Volkov's findings contribute significantly to expanding the understanding of these complex topics in the context of German history and beyond.