20. February 2025

Salon of the Jewish Community with Thomas Meyer

Conversation at Villa 102

A space for the big questions in life. Since 2019, the Villa 102 is host to the Salon der Jüdischen Gemeinde (formerly Philosophy Salon), a thinking space and philosophical forum by the Culture Department of the Jewish Community in Frankfurt. The Philosophy Salon is intended as a space for philosophical thought and discussions. It tackles a range of universal and topical themes beyond the world of academic discourse and acts as a stimulus for intellectual life in Frankfurt. Leon Joskowitz welcomes guest speakers from various fields, including philosophy, literature and natural sciences, to talk about key topics of social importance, and to challenge and debate them. In this way, the Jewish history of Villa 102 - former home of the Sondheimer family - is taken into consideration.

12 February 2025

Leon Joskowitz in conversation with Thomas Meyer

The swiss author Thomas Meyer is the guest of the 21. Salon. The podcaster, action artist and screenwriter spent 70 weeks on the Swiss bestseller list with his debut novel "Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse". The book was made into a film in 2017. The novel's theme, love, is central to Thomas Meyer's work. In addition to his work as an author, he also addresses the topic of love as a breakup-coach.

Meyer questions established notions of love and relationships: is love enough to make people happy in the most diverse relationship constellations? What changes nowadays and is it an universal remedy for all kinds of conflicts, disagreements and perhaps even inhumanity in our society? And when should love end?

The Salon of the Jewish Community (formerly Philosophischer Salon) was initiated in 2018 by the Cultural Department of the Jewish Community of Frankfurt.

All information about upcoming guests and dates, as well as registration, can be found on the website of the Jewish Community Frankfurt.

Past Events in cooperation with KfW Stiftung, Villa 102

26 June 2024

Leon Joskowitz in conversation with Mirna Funk

Mirna Funk, author and journalist born in the GDR, is the guest of the nineteenth Salon of the Jewish Community. She studied history and philosophy at Humboldt University Berlin and celebrated the publication of her latest book "Learning from Jews" in February 2024, which she presented at a reading in the Ignatz Bubis Community Centre on 14 April. Her work repeatedly focuses on the interfaces between society and biography with a particular focus on the present, without losing sight of the past, but always looking to the future. We now welcome Mirna Funk to the Jewish Community Centre's Salon to talk to Leon Joskowitz about the fascinating topic of identity.

29 February 2024

Leon Joskowitz in conversation with Leon Kahane

Guest of the 18th Salon is the Berlin artist Leon Kahane. In his work, which consists of installations, photographs and video, he explores the inherent contradictions in history, reflecting historical, political and economic, but also biographical aspects.
In conversation with Leon Joskowitz, Leon Kahane will speak about the concept of artistic freedom. A controversial concept, if not a problematic one, which Leon Kahane describes as an "exchange term for anti-Semitism" within a "sham debate". Because one thing is always clear: when it comes to anti-Semitism or other forms of group-based misanthropy in the art and culture industry, the concept of artistic freedom is never far away. Whether the term is suitable as more than a form of indirect communication will be critically and self-critically discussed.

All information about upcoming guests and dates, as well as registration, can be found on the website of the Jewish Community Frankfurt.

16 November 2023

Our time needs philosophers
Leon Joskowitz in conversation with Helma Lutz

Guest of the seventeenth Salon was Helma Lutz, sociologist and gender researcher. As a former professor at Goethe University and director of the Cornelia Goethe Center, she is internationally engaged with the topics of gender, migration, ethnicity, and intersectionality. Central to her work are questions about social and biological gender, as well as gender as a marker and challenge in our society. Leon Joskowitz talked with Helma Lutz about current debates around gender and diversity, sexism and sexuality. In times when questioning bisexuality is already perceived as a provocation and gendering is banned in some federal states, the topic seems unavoidable. Successful authors and German politicians devote themselves to the topic and increasingly emphasize, in an emotionally charged way, the need to address the question of gender.

29 June 2023

We live in the apocalypse. Let's make the best of it!
Leon Joskowitz in conversation with Ariadne von Schirach

Guest of the 16th Salon was Ariadne von Schirach, author and philosopher. In her books she deals with fundamental questions: What do we live for? How do we face our fears? Do we have a right to happiness? Leon Joskowitz talked with Ariadne von Schirach about the good life. People, nature and societies are in upheaval. There is a need for new stories, new narratives and appropriate world views for the 21st century. What can such narratives look like? What can we connect to, which ideas already belong on the garbage heap of history? Can our psyche still be saved? And how can a good life succeed in troubled times?

21 February 2023

German Politics and Media Landscape in Transition
Deniz Yücel and Tanya Maljarchuk in conversation with Nikolai Klimeniouk

24 February 2023 marks the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to the start of the devastating war of aggression. From the very beginning, the war has been accompanied by numerous debates in German society. It is about humanitarian aid, sanctions, arms deliveries, a fundamental stance and finding a way to deal with a precedent that was no longer thought possible in Europe. Western values have to be renegotiated; militancy and pacifism are put to the test. In the Salon of the Jewish Community, writer Tanya Maljarchuk, journalist and founder of PEN-Berlin Deniz Yücel in conversation with Nikolai Klimeniouk, expert on the politics of Russia and Ukraine, reviewed the first year of war and considered the attitude of German politics and media in the changing events.