Class Photo 1937 – A Research Project Tracing a Jewish School Class from Munich
Tuesday, 20 October 2026 · 7:00 pm
Venue: Historisches Kolleg, Kaulbachstraße 15, 80539 Munich
This closing event marks the conclusion of the research project “The Class Photo” by Kristina Milz and Julia Schneidawind, bringing together the participating students and the families whose histories shaped the project. Taking a class photograph from 1937 as its point of departure, the project reconstructs the biographies of the Jewish pupils depicted in the image and traces their lives under National Socialism, persecution, displacement, and emigration. Drawing on archival research as well as encounters with descendants and family members, it connects individual life stories with the history of a school class and the wider history of Jewish life in Munich.
In the context of the book “Klassenfoto 1937. Die Geschichte einer jüdischen Schulklasse” (C. H. Beck, Munich 2026) and the forthcoming accompanying exhibition at the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, the event offers an opportunity to reflect on the project’s research process, its findings, and its broader significance.
The project is conducted in cooperation with the Chair for Jewish History and Culture and the Chair for Modern and Contemporary History at LMU Munich, and the Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, with generous support from the C. H.Beck Kulturstiftung. The event is part of the colloquium “The Holocaust and its Contexts” and the colloquium “Jewish History and Culture”.
