Lennard Schmidt

Lennard is a historian and co-director of the Initiative Interdisciplinary Antisemitism Research (IIA) at the University of Trier. My academic and public work focuses on the ideological development of antisemitism in post-war Germany, with a particular emphasis on the transformation of the West German Left, its relationship to Israel, and the memory of the Shoah.

He studied History, German Studies, and Educational Sciences at the University of Trier, where he completed his M.Ed. in 2018. Since 2018, he has been working on his doctoral dissertation, supervised by Prof. Dr. Christian Jansen, which analyses how the West German New Left redefined key ideological categories such as class, memory, and identity after 1945, and how this redefinition laid the groundwork for specific patterns of antisemitic anti-Zionism. The project combines discourse analysis with intellectual history and draws on a wide range of primary sources, particularly leftist journals and pamphlets from the 1960s and 1970s.

Before becoming a research associate, he coordinated the IIA’s activities in a student capacity. Since 2022, he has served as its co-director. In this role, he oversees interdisciplinary research projects, design public education formats, and liaise with political institutions, civil society organisations, and academic partners.

He leads the conceptual development of larger cultural and educational initiatives, such as the planned Culture Weeks Against Antisemitism (2027). In parallel, he has contributed to digital projects such as the Digital European Atlas and the Erinnerungsatlas der Großregion, focusing on memory and space in post-war Europe.