Victorian Jewish Life University of Heidelberg --  February 9-10, 2026 In the heyday of Victorian England, the era when the sun never set on the British Empire, Jewishculture in England was also experiencing an all-time height. International movements for reformand emancipation were shaping laws about Jewish rights, and as the century progressed,immigrants from Eastern Europe brought their cultures and experiences to London. The grindingpoverty of the Jewish East End existed in tension with the rise of bourgeois Jewish communities inthe wealthier districts of Bayswater and Maida Vale, the legal and social discrimination with thesuccessful organization of bodies like the Anglo-Jewish Historical Association and the JewishTerritorialist Organization, and the two-time election of Benjamin Disraeli, to date the only BritishPrime Minister of Jewish heritage. We encourage the study of under-researched Jewish writers and histories, and in particular wantto discuss how they relate to themes of research popular with nineteenth-century scholars, suchas the rural/urban divide, immigration, gender, and (wage) labour, where a Jewish perspective isusually absent. The Victorian era was a time of upheaval - economically, politically as well associally; how were these changes experienced by Jewish citizens and how they were reflectedupon in literature by contemporary Jewish writers? We encourage an interdisciplinary approachto Victorian Jewish life from literary, historical, religious, and cultural perspectives in order toexamine the conference topic from different angles. While our main focus is on England and thedevelopment of an Anglo-Jewish identity in the Victorian era, we also invite speakers to compareand contrast their findings with continental Jewish experiences as well as engage with thegenerally shifting perception of Jewish mobility and the rise of a Jewish cosmopolitanism in thenineteenth century. This conference explores all aspects of Jewish life in Victorian England and its international andtranscontinental influences. We are especially seeking abstracts on:❖ Spatial experience❖ Colonialism and immigration❖ Class/labour❖ Gender❖ Women and children’s experiences❖ Rural/urban experiences❖ Transeuropean/transnational influences❖ Zionist ideas/ambitions❖ Identities❖ Religious change❖ Material cultures Abstracts of up to 400 words, and biographical notes of up to 100 words, should be sent toruthquante@hotmail.de and lorrumson@gmail.com by July 14. If you are not sure what you’dlike to present, but are interested in attending, we are also accepting informal expressions ofinterest until the same date.