Political and Legal Theory
Intellectual History
History of Human Rights
Psychoanalysis (Freud)
Theories of Antisemitism
Frankfurt School
German–Jewish Studies
Current Projects
This project explores how Freudian psychoanalysis was used in twentieth-century legal theory to bridge the divide between legal positivism and natural law. Focusing on key figures—Hans Kelsen, Albert A. Ehrenzweig, Franz R. Bienenfeld, and Jerome Frank—it examines three major moments of engagement with Freud’s thought: interwar Vienna, the American legal realist movement beginning in the 1930s, and the post–1945 period. These thinkers, often shaped by exile and antisemitism, approached psychoanalysis as a conceptual tool to rethink the ethical and psychological foundations of law.
Drawing on primary sources and situating them within their historical and biographical contexts, the study investigates how psychoanalytic concepts intersect with jurisprudence, and whether these insights remain relevant to contemporary debates on law’s moral authority. Rooted in philosophy, law, history, psychology, and Jewish studies, the research aims to contribute to a richer understanding of the relation between legal thought and psychoanalysis in times of political and intellectual crisis.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
PhD in Philosophy Free University of Berlin, awarded 2025 (summa cum laude)
Dissertation Title: The Nonidentical of Human Rights – The Individual and the Concept of Dignity in Human Rights after 1945
Master of Arts (MA LIS) in Library and Information Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 2021
Master’s Thesis: Between Constitutional Ideals and Everyday Realities: The Role of Libraries in Advancing Civic Education in the U.S. and Germany
Magister Artium, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, 2009
Major: Social Anthropology, Minors: Political Science and Law
Thesis: The Convention of the Rights of the Child and the Victimization of Former Youth Combatants in Colombian Reintegration Programs
Fellowships and Grants
2022–2025 Visiting PhD Fellowship at the Jacob Robinson Institute for the History Individual and Collective Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI)
2025 Research Grant “Antisemitism after October 7th and the War in Gaza”, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (HUJI) & The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism (Tel Aviv University)
2024 Travel Grant, Ernst-Reuter-Gesellschaft, FU Berlin
2011–2014 Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation, Research Grant for a project on Human Rights Film Festivals, Institute of Social Anthropology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
2012 Travel Grant, Graduate Center LMU München
2007/2008 DAAD Research Grant, Colombia
2005/2006 DAAD One-Year-Study-Abroad Scholarship, Universidad de Los Andes and Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
Publications
“Demokratie ohne Mündigkeit? Zur politischen Mission von Bibliotheken.” In Demokratie und Politik in Öffentlichen und Wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken. Politikfelder deutscher Bibliotheken, edited by Andreas Degkwitz and Barbara Schleihagen, vol. 73, 1–12. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023.
“Politische Bildung in Bibliotheken.” Bibliothek – Forschung und Praxis 46, no. 2 (2022): 301–17.
“Jenseits des Atlantiks: Politische Bildung in US-amerikanischen Public Libraries.” BuB. Forum für Bibliothek und Information, July 2022, 388–91.
Together with Marc Grimm, Saskia Müller, Jakob Baier, and Ullrich Bauer, eds. Bildungsstrategien gegen Antisemitismus – Wissenschaftliche Einordnung und Ausarbeitung eines Rahmenkonzeptes für das ZADA Pilotprojekt. Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld, 2022.
“Provenienzforschung (Beitrag der 109. Deutsche Bibliothekartag 2021 in Bremen).” ABI Technik 41, no. 4 (2021): 267–76.
“Dystopisches Bewusstsein: Zu den Grenzen der Menschenrechte.” Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 101, no. 4 (2015): 513–24.
“Ein säkularer Irrtum? Zur Stellung des Individuums in den Menschenrechten nach 1945.” In Theorie und Kritik, edited by Ludwig Gasteiger, Marc Grimm, and Barbara Umrath, 289–314. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2015.
“Adornos nahe Ferne oder Levinas unmittelbare Begegnung? Überlegungen zu den Bedingungen von Solidarität.” In Ethnologie und Soziale Arbeit: Fremde Disziplinen, gemeinsame Fragen?, edited by Magnus Treiber. Opladen: Budrich Verlag, 2015.
Presentations (selection)
09/2025 “From Jerusalem to Frankfurt: Hannah Arendt on the Auschwitz Trials.” Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Arlington.
07/2025 “A Question of Antisemitism, Anti-Israelism, or Human Rights? Reconsidering Academic Boycott Calls After October 7.” International Workshop Antisemitism after October 7 and the War in Gaza, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
05/2025 “Politische Bildung in Bibliotheken.” Tagung Zukunft der Bibliotheken, Bad Urach. Organizer: Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg.
01/2025 “In the Struggle of World Politics: The World Jewish Congress and the UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948.” Workshop: Minerva Center for Human Rights 2024-25, Host: Prof. Dr. Barak Medina, Faculty of Law, HUJI.
11/2024 “The Human Rights Utopia of Our Times” (Opening Remarks), International Symposium Human Rights in Troubled Times, HUJI.
02/2024 “Demokratie und Politik in Bibliotheken.” Book Presentation and Panel Discussion. Organizers: Deutscher Bibliotheksverband e.V. (dbv) and De Gruyter Verlag, Berlin.
01/2024 “Critique as a Human Right and a Human Duty.” Seminar at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, HUJI.
10/2023 “Human Rights as a Benchmark for Democracy? On Franz Rudolf Bienenfeld’s Rediscovery of Justice.” Annual Conference of the German Studies Association – Seminar “Militant Democracy Then and Now,” Montréal.
06/2023 “The Necessity of Critique: Adorno on Separation of Powers and Political Maturity.” Annual Conference for German Studies, ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv (organized by Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem).
Media Engagements (selection)
“Currency in Times like These: The Benny Morris Case at the University of Leipzig.” HaGalil, December 8, 2024.
“Human Rights in Troubled Times: How Much Individualism Do We Need?” Podcast episode, Tel Aviv Review. TVL1 Studios, July 29, 2024.
Together with Daniel Siemens and Helmut Walser Smith, “Statement against the Boycott of Israeli Academics.” May 14, 2024.
“The Challenge of Human Rights after October 7th.” Podcast episode, Voices of Women at Wartime, Center for Women’s Justice, April 11, 2024.