Discussion with Prof. Dr. Gertrud Pickhan, Prof. Dr. Christopher Kopper and Dr. Hanno Plass
When Joseph Berkowitz Kohn died in Hamburg in 1905, an obituary in the social democratic newspaper Hamburger Echo paid tribute to him as a trustworthy comrade whose life had been brightened not only by his loving family, but also by the achievements of the labour movement. Berkowitz Kohn was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery in Ohlsdorf, accompanied by leading figures of the party at the time under a red flag draped in mourning. A few years later, in 1908, Olga Benario was born into a Social Democratic Jewish family in Munich. She became involved in the Communist Youth in the 1920s. In 1928, she fled to the Soviet Union and was sent to Paris, London and Rio de Janeiro on behalf of the Comintern. After a failed uprising, Brazil extradited her to Nazi Germany. After being imprisoned in Berlin's Barnimstraße women's prison and in Ravensbrück concentration camp, she was murdered in Bernburg in 1942. In 1982, Ruth First was killed in Maputo, Mozambique, by a letter bomb sent by the South African secret service. In its obituary, the South African Communist Party stated the reason for the assassination: their communism, which inspired complete dedication to liberating the majority of the population from apartheid rule.
What motivation and what experiences drove Kohn Berkowitz, Benario, and First to become active in revolutionary and social reform movements? What was their respective relevance and what traces did they leave behind? And what legacy did they leave behind, representing a large number of socialists, that could be built upon?
These and other questions were discueed by Prof. Gertrud Pickhan (Berlin), Prof. Christopher Kopper (Bielefeld), and Dr. Hanno Plass (Hamburg) on 25 September 2025 at the IGdJ. Dr. Kim Wünschmann welcomed speakers and visitors both on site and online and gave an introduction to the discussion. Dr. Florian Weis (Berlin) chaired the panel.
A joint event organized by the Institute for the History of German Jews, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Hamburg, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Image: IGdJ