Gustaf Dalman Lectures

Professor em. Dr. Stefan Reif made 2014 a speech with the title "The Genizah at a Glance: 200,000 manuscripts and 110 years of historical analysis".


Since 2011, the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg has organized the Dalman Lectures together with the University of Greifswald’s Gustaf Dalman Institute to regularly bring internationally renowned researchers to Greifswald.

  • 2022: Professor em. Dr. Thomas Willi, (Greifswald/Hamburg)
    Lecture title: “LEIPZIG - JERUSALEM - GREIFSWALD. Gustaf Dalmans Prägung durch die Juden in seinem geistigen Umfeld"
  • 2021: Professor Dr. Jörg Frey (Universität Zürich)
    Lecture title: “75 Jahre Schriftenfunde vom Toten Meer: Was haben wir daraus gelernt?"
  • 2019: Professor Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Ph. D., University of Southern California, Los Angeles
    Lecture title: "'Toldoth Muhammad': Ancient Jewish Stories about Muhammad, his Prophethood, and the Qur'an"
  • 2018: Professor em. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Günther Stemberger, Wien
    Lecture title: Palästina am Vorabend der islamischen Eroberung
  • 2017: Professor Dr. Israel Finkelstein, Tel Aviv University
    Lecture title: "The Northern Kingdom of Israel: The View from Megiddo"
  • 2016: Professor Dr. Tal Ilan, Institut für Judaistik an der Freien Universität Berlin
    Lecture title: "Juden in Ägypten vor und nach 117 u. Z. in der Sicht älterer und neuerer Papyri-Funde"
  • 2015: Professor Dr. Peter Schäfer, Direktor des Jüdischen Museums Berlin
    Lecture title: "Zwei Mächte im Himmel: Binitarische Vorstellungen im antiken Judentum"
  • 2014: Professor Dr. Stefan Reif, University of Cambridge
    Lecture title: "The Genizah at a Glance: 200,000 manuscripts and 110 Years of historical analysis"
  • 2013: Professor Dr. Isaac Kalimi
    Lecture title: "Furcht vor der Vernichtung und der ewige Bund. Das Buch Esther im Judentum und in jüdischer Theologie"
  • 2012: Professor Dr. Haim Goren, Tel Hai College
    Lecture title: "Von Tobler bis Dalman. Palästinaforschung in Deutschland 1830-1914"
  • 2011: Professor Dr. Emanuel Tov, Hebräische Universität Jerusalem
    Lecture title: "Die Bibel in Qumran"

The Gustaf Dalman Institute documents the Palestine dominated by farmers and shepherds that no longer exists today. Even before the First World War, the German theologian Gustaf Dalman (1855-1941) compiled what he believed to be unique about the country of the Bible. The Institute therefore houses rock and plant samples, household and farming equipment, ceramics, small archaeological finds, country and relief maps, approximately 20,000 historical photographs and a small library with around 5,000 volumes including rare prints from the 16th century. In Greifswald, Dalman brought together items that ethnologists, archaeologists, geographers, theologians, botanists and mineralogists usually look at independently, creating a comprehensive picture.  Today, scientists from around the world benefit from this collection.