Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Humanities History
Conceptual Artist, Culture Mediator and Spoken Word Artist
Teacher, facilitator, and podcaster
Political Scientist and Project Lead
Political Scientist at „Bildungsstätte Anne Frank“
Training Coordinator at CEJI-A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe
Project manager
Theatre and Media Educator, Activist and Founder „RomaTrial e.V.“
Literary scholar, curator and author
Sociologist and Education Researcher
Dramaturg and Theatre-Maker
Schauspielerin, Co-Leiterin brunnenpassage
Political Scientist
Sociologist and Gender Researcher
Journalist and Author
Journalist
Consultant for Critical Diversity and Anti-Discrimination Work
Journalist
Urbanist
Journalist, Cultural Activist, Curator, Production Manager, Facilitator, Filmmaker
Author and podcaster
Activist and Education Officer
Journalist and Author
Professor of Islamic Studies
Researcher in Linguistics, Anti-Racism Activist
Musician
Literary scholar, curator and lecturer
Psychodynamic Supervisor, Specialist in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Poet, author, moderator and educational consultant for empowerment & anti-racism
Theatre Director, Actor, Writer, Singer
Artist and Art Historian
Theater pedagogue and director
Political Scientist
Erster Geschäftsführer von Austausch e.V.
Journalist
Author
Political Scientist
Curator, moderator and facilitator
Moderator, singer, actress, systemic therapist, social justice and radical diversity trainer and educator
Political Scientist and Diplomat
Historian
Journalist and Author
Writer, Publicist, Activist
Musician, Artist, Director, Actor
Archeologist and historian
Executive director Haver Srbija
Curator and Project Manager
Journalist and author
Activist and Author
MP and Activist
Journalist, Author and Moderator
Racism and School Researcher
Activist and Author
Language Artist, Art & Culture Mediator and Curator
Psychologist, Competence Centre for Prevention and Empowerment
Historian
Political scientist & educational consultant
Poet, song pianist and author
Social Scientist, Pedagogue, Artist and Trainer
Theater scholar
Journalist and Screenwriter
Managing Director of the Allianz Kulturstiftung
Artist
Content Creator & Author
Artist, Author, Curator and independent Publicist
Project developer, dramaturg, producer & moderator
(Historic) Political educator
Journalistin, Moderatorin
Anthropologist and Research Associate
Curator, Filmmaker, Artist
Cultural Scientist, Journalist, Author
Writer and Commentator
Journalist and Author
Politikwissenschaftler, Freier Autor, Lyriker
Artist, Poet, Professor, Activist
Project manager & consultant for municipal development
Islamic Studies Scientist and Religious Educator
Project director, curator and educational consultant
Islamic Studies Scholar and Philosopher
Cultural and Religious Studies Scientist
Literary and Cultural Scientist, Activist
Head of the Memorial Sites Department, Topography of Terror Foundation
Artist and filmmaker
Political educator, Educational activist
Essayist, Columnist, Writer
Journalist and Author
Consultant for critical diversity and anti-discrimination work
Moderator, Communications Consultant, Author
Anthropologist
Director of Acting
Activist
Media Scientist
Prof. Dr. Frederek Musall is Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Humanities History and Deputy Rector at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Heidelberg. In his research, Musall deals with Jewish philosophy, especially in its relationship to Arab-Islamic thought, as well as modern rabbinic thought and contemporary Jewish culture. He is involved in numerous interreligious discussion formats, including DialoguePerspectives.
More information on the work of Frederek Musall can be found on the website of the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg.
In addition to her artistic work Clara Laila Abid Alsstar organizes herself in collective associations. In her practice, she is focussed on the processing of situated knowledge about experiences of discrimination and social justice as well as the critical questioning of existing power structures. In doing so, she explores the question of how individual and family memories can be understood as part of an oral culture of remembrance in socio-cultural and socio-political entanglements and how these can emerge from the private into the public, their dividing lines being dissolved and deconstructed.
Nicole Schweiß is a teacher from Cologne specializing in German, pedagogy, drama, literature, and art. She is also an advocate for anti-discriminatory education. She hosts the podcast Kleine Pause – Begegnungen in der Teeküche, where she examines the German school system through a diversity-sensitive, anti-discriminatory, and multi-perspective lens. In each episode, she engages with a variety of guests, offers insights, and seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Dina Wyler studied political science, international relations, and religious studies in Zurich and Boston. Her work focuses on (Jewish) pluralism, antisemitism, and Swiss memory culture. As Head of Department at the Zurich Institute for Interreligious Dialogue, she curates cultural programmes, leads workshops, and advises municipal institutions and cultural centres. Since 2021, she has also been committed to promoting a contemporary and forward-looking culture of remembrance as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Paul Grüninger Foundation.
Saba-Nur Cheema is a political scientist and educational director of the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank. She develops concepts for educational work against anti-Semitism, racism, and Muslimophobia in the post-migrant society. A special focus of her work is the cooperation with migrant self-organisations & Muslim groups.
More information about Saba-Nur Cheema’s work can be found on the website of the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank and on Twitter.
Cathy Del Rizzo is Training Coordinator at CEJI. With formal and non-formal educational backgrounds in training, youth work, art and theatre, Cathy has been working as an anti-bias trainer since 2014. She is currently focusing on training delivery, educational program development, network development and activities in Belgium. She has been involved in the design and implementation of numerous workshops, trainings and train-the-trainer courses on combating prejudices and discrimination.
Nanna Ellen Amer is project manager at the Jewish Information Center Denemark. The purpose of the Jewish Information Center is to provide new analyses and prevent antisemitism by disseminating knowledge about Jewish history, life, and contemporary antisemitism through education and workshops for students and adults in Denmark.
Hamze Bytyçi is a theatre and media educator and chairperson of RomaTrial e. V. He is active against antiziganism and works to advance the interests of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja in Germany and Europe and is co-initiator of numerous alliances, projects, and events.
More information about Hamze Bytyçi’s work can be found on the RomaTrial e. V. website.
Artan Islamaj (b. 1996) is co-director of the Institut Neue Schweiz (INES), where he advocates for a post-migrant, just and pluralistic society. He is co-founder of the literature and art zine zwischentext. His work operates at the intersection of politics, languages and aesthetics. His texts combine artistic practice with critical thinking and open up spaces for marginalised perspectives. He lives and works in Zurich.
Prof. Dr. Aladin Al-Mafaalani Aladin El-Mafalaani is a sociologist and holds the Chair of Education in the Migration Society at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück and is the author of Das Integrationsparadox(2018) and Mythos Bildung (2020).
More information on the work of Aladin El-Mafaalani can be found on his website.
Tobias Herzberg, was born in Hamburg in 1986 and studied acting in Hamburg and Zurich as a scholarship holder of the Ernst-Ludwig-Ehlich-Studienwerk. He came to Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater in 2016 with his solo play Feygele, after which he worked there as a dramaturg and artistic director of Studio Я. From 2019 to 2021, Tobias Herzberg was a dramaturg at the Burgtheater Wien and project manager of the Kasino venue. Since 2020, he has been pursuing a Master’s degree in Arts & Cultural Management at Leuphana University Lüneburg. He has held teaching assignments and mentorships at the HMT Rostock, the Amsterdam University of the Arts and in the winter semester 2021 for the first time at the Institute for Language Arts, Vienna. He has been part of the Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse (CPPD) since May 2021.
Anne Wiederhold ist Schauspielerin, Mitgründerin und Künstlerische Co-Leiterin der Wiener Brunnenpassage sowie Co-Leiterin der Initiative Erinnern in Zukunft. Ihre Arbeitsschwerpunkte liegen in der Entwicklung transkultureller Kunstformate, sozial engagierter Kunst, pluraler Erinnerungspraxen, Diversitätsentwicklung in der Kulturpolitik sowie im experimentellen und dokumentarischen Theater. Sie ist als Jurorin, Beraterin und in Fachgremien tätig und bietet Strategie- und Führungsbegleitung an für Diversität im Kulturbereich. Mitherausgeberin von Erinnern in Zukunft – Aufrufe für plurales Erinnern (Mandelbaum Verlag, 2025).
Carmen L. Dege is a Polonsky Postdoctoral Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and works on identity politics and the role of self-transformation in the anthropocentric age.
More information on the work of Carmen L. Dege can be found on her website.
Stephanie Kuhnen is an author and journalist. Experienced an early political socialisation in the West Germany of the 1980s between the disarmament movement and the AIDS pandemic. Following a course of studies in the humanities in the 1990s, went to Berlin and found happiness. Active as a writer and commentator since 1996 in the fields of queer politics and culture with a focus on lesbian* perspectives, visibilities, and topics. Always seeking new possibilities to tell old stories more inclusively.
Dinah Riese is an editor in the domestic department of the taz. She mainly works on the topics of migration, the immigration society, right-wing violence, and reproductive rights. She has received several awards for her reporting on abortions and the criminal law paragraph 219a.
More information about Dinah Riese’s work can be found on the website of the taz.
Márcia Elisa Moser ist Beraterin für kritische Diversitäts- und Antidiskriminierungsarbeit. Von 2000 bis 2006 studierte sie Gender Studies und Religionswissenschaft in Berlin. Von 2006 bis 2014 war Márcia Elisa Moser wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Religionswissenschaft der Freien Universität Berlin und an der Philipps-Universität Marburg. 2016-2021 war sie als Referentin im Bereich Gleichstellung bzw ‚Diversity Policies’ an der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen bzw. Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, tätig. Ihre Themenschwerpunkte sind Intersektionalität, das Verhältnis von Religion-Geschlecht-Sexualität, und Körpersymbolik.
Anna Dushime is an editorial manager at the Berlin-based production company Steinberger Silberstein. She is a podcaster on the topics of politics, pop culture, dating and diversity. Her taz column “Bei aller Liebe” appears every fortnight.
More information about Anna Dushime’s work can be found on the taz website.
Dr. Noa K. Ha is the managing director at the German Center for Integration and Migration Research – DeZIM. Her work focuses on postcolonial urban research, migrant-diasporic memory politics, critical integration research, and racism critique.
More information about Noa K. Ha’s work can be found on the Website des DeZIM.
Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard is a journalist, cultural activist, curator, production manager, facilitator, and filmmaker. She is a project manager and co-manager/artistic director at Each One Teach One (EOTO) e.V. in Berlin and is responsible for the literature and arts festival AFROLUTION. Since 2020, she has also been responsible for the area of in[ter]ventions as a sub-area manager on the 5-year joint project “Dekoloniale -Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt”.
Alice Hasters is an author and podcaster. She works for Deutschlandfunk Nova and rbb, among others. She speaks about feminism and pop culture with Maxi Häcke in her monthly podcast Feuer&Brot. In 2019, her book Was weiße Menschen nicht über Rassismus hören wollen aber wissen sollen was published by Hanser.
More information on Alice Hasters’ work can be found on the ZEIT website.
Anne Gersdorff works for the organisation SOZIALHELDEN e.V. as a consultant for the JOBinklusive project. With her educational work, she is committed to a self-determined life for people with disabilities and to an inclusive society.
More information on Anne Gersdorff’s work can be found on the Sozialhelden website and on the blog The New Norm.
Andrea Hanna Hünniger is a journalist and author of Das Paradies – Meine Jugend nach der Mauer (2012), which tells the story of the 1990s in East Germany from the perspective of children. Her main topics include East German history and present and right-wing violence.
More information on the work of Andrea Hanna Hünniger can be found on the ZEIT website.
Bekim Agai is the director of the Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG). From 2010 to 2013, he was head of the BMBF-funded junior research group “Europe seen from outside – Formations of Middle Eastern views from Europe on Europe”. His research focuses include the challenges resulting from Islam having a home in Germany for Muslims and non-Muslims.
More information on the work of Bekim Agai can be found on the AIWG website.
Dr. Cátia Severino is a researcher in Linguistics and an anti-racism activist. Her personal experiences within communities commonly referred to as “Retornados” (Returned), stemming from the significant diaspora of African nations formerly colonized by Portugal after gaining independence, prompt her to examine the experiences of Afro-descendant communities in Portugal within the framework of the Post-Colonial Diaspora. She focuses on the enduring legacy of colonial racism and colorism in shaping social and cultural hierarchies, as well as the formation of national identities and recognition of the place of belonging.
Tayfun Guttstadt blends Ottoman classical music and trap, poetry and beats, Middle Eastern sounds and the rhythm of the streets in his music. Born in Hamburg to a German-Turkish family, the multi-instrumentalist captivates audiences with his electrifying live shows and has just released his debut album tarâpzâde. Tayfun Guttstadt lives in Berlin and regularly performs in cross-genre and interdisciplinary formats.
Ibou Coulibaly Diop (1979, Segatta) is a literary scholar, curator, and lecturer. He is a jury member for the International Literature Prize of the House of World Cultures and regularly publishes on transcultural literature and the significance of African literature in the world of tomorrow. For the Berlin Senate, he is developing a concept on colonialism and, for the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, he works in the competence center for decolonization. Diop lives and works in Berlin.
Dr. Amma Yeboah is a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. As a psychodynamic supervisor, she works with individuals, groups, and in structural organisational development. Her main areas of interest are the effects of structures of dominance on the psyche.
More information about Amma Yeboah’s work can be found on her website.
Melanelle B. C. Hémêfa
Melanelle is a performing poetess, author, educational speaker, curator, consultant and facilitator. She loves words and words love her back. From this gift came her vocations – writing and speaking. She addresses issues such as Afrodiasporic life, self-determination, Black feminism, anti-Black racism, postcolonialism, and intersectional empowerment from a artistic, scientific, intersectional and emotional perspective, with a particular emphasis on anti-discriminatory/diverse approaches and processes that inspire reflective journeys. Melanelle speaks and thinks in French, German, English, and Ewe.
Dan Thy Nguyen is an independent theatre director, actor, writer, and singer in Hamburg. He has worked on diverse productions including at the Ballhaus Naunynstraße, the Kampnagel, at the Mousonturm Frankfurt, for MDR, and at the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In 2014, he developed and produced the theatrical production “Sonnenblumenhaus” about the pogrom that took place in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, the radio play version of which received the “Hörnixe” prize in 2015 and which continues to be performed at diverse institutions. Since 2020 he and his production company Studio Marshmallow have led the Hamburg festival “fluctoplasma – 96h Kunst Diskurs Diversität” and is a deputy board member of the LAG Kinder- und Jugendkultur Hamburg. In 2021, he and the entire ensemble were awarded the Deutscher Hörspielpreis for achievements in acting.
Tasnim Baghdadi is an art historian and artist. She heads the Mediation and Public Program Department at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich. She also works as a freelance author on topics related to the decolonisation of museums in German-speaking countries.
Bassam Ghazi is a theatre pedagogue, director and artistic director of the Import Export Kollektiv at Schauspiel Köln. As a freelance trainer, he offers trainings on the topics of diversity, post-migration, discrimination and empowerment for educational and cultural institutions.
More information about Bassam Ghazi’s work can be found on his website.
Dr. Jonas Fegert is head of department at the FZI Research Centre for Information Technology and a doctoral student at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). There he researches digital citizen participation, how to combat disinformation, and platform design. At the FZI, he is leading the development of the House of Participation (HoP). Since 2021 he is in project lead of the FZI House of Participation.
From 2014-2018, he worked as an advisor at the Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Studienwerk, where he was involved in setting up initiatives and structures for the Jewish scholarship programme.
More information about Jonas Fegert’s work ca be found on the website of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the FZI Research Centre for Information Technology and the House of Participation.
Igor Mitchnik ist Erster Geschäftsführer von Austausch e.V., einer in Berlin ansässigen NGO, die sich seit Anfang der 1990er Jahre auf zivilgesellschaftliche und Konfliktmanagement-Initiativen in Osteuropa, Zentralasien und dem Südkaukasus konzentriert. Zwischen 2019 und 2024 war er überwiegend in der Ukraine tätig, wo er in zivilgesellschaftlichen, humanitären und analytischen Projekten mitwirkte. Nach Beginn der russischen Vollinvasion in die Ukraine arbeitete er, vor seiner Rückkehr nach Berlin im Februar 2024, hauptsächlich im Bereich humanitäre Hilfe mit internationalen Organisationen wie Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) und Mercy Corps zusammen. Er besitzt einen Doppel-Masterabschluss in Politik und Sicherheit von der Universität Tartu, Estland, und dem University College London, Großbritannien.
Marieke Reimann is a journalist. Her main topics are East Germany, diversity in the media, and inclusive language.
More information about Marieke Reimann’s work on can be found on her website.
Kübra Gümüşay, born 1988 in Hamburg, studied political science in Hamburg and London. She is the author of the bestseller Sprache und Sein (“Language & Being”), as well as the initiator of numerous campaigns and associations including the anti-racism campaign #SchauHin, the feminist alliance #ausnahmslos, and the campaign “Organised Love”. In 2018, Forbes magazine ranked her among the top 30 under 30 in Europe in the field of media and marketing.
More information about Kübra Gümüşay’s work can be found on her website.
Benjamin Fischer is a network policy activist working on issues related to the information society, hate speech, and conspiracy ideologies. He was president of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) and is a board member of the World Jewish Museum and the Muslim Jewish Interfaith Coalition.
Sapir von Abel was born in Jerusalem and lives in Munich. She studied Near and Middle Eastern Studies and Intercultural Communication at LMU Munich. Sapir works as a curator for education and outreach at the Jewish Museum Munich and is part of the volunteer curatorial team for the Munich art and culture festival “ausARTen – A Change of Perspective through Art”. Sapir also works as a facilitator and workshop leader for intercultural teams and group processes.
Insina Lüschen ist Moderatorin, Sängerin, Schauspielerin, Systemische Therapeutin, Social Justice and Radical Diversity Trainerin und Pädagogin, sie lebt in Hamburg.
Seit 2024 ist Insina Lüschen Initiatorin, Künstlerische Leitung und Moderatorin des intersektionalen, queerfeministischen SUPERZART* Festivals im Deutschen SchauSpielHaus in Hamburg.
Als Künstlerin tourt sie mit dem musikkabarettistischen, aktivistischen Duo „Die Deichgranaten“ durch Norddeutschland, das 2023 das Debütalbum “PUNKT.” veröffentlichte. Für die Stiftung „Kinder brauchen Musik“ von Rolf Zuckowski arbeitet Insina als Schauspiel-und Gesangstrainerin, organisatorische und musikalische Leitung auf den Klassenreisen zur Musik.
Seit 2015 leitet sie den Meckerkring, den einzigen plattdeutschen Beschwerdechor, der mit zwei unterschiedlichen abendfüllenden Programme mit überwiegend Eigenkompositionen durch Norddeutschalnd tourt. Die Plattformance des Meckerkrings ist ein eigen entwickeltes Genre, dass sich chorisch und performativ mit dem Artikel 1 des Grundgesetzes auseinandersetzt.
2025 wird ihr Soloalbum als Singer-Songwriterin erscheinen.
Als Moderatorin ist sie regelmäßig beim Science Slam im Uebel und Gefährlich zu sehen, sie moderiert ebenso andere Wissenschaftskommunikationsformate, Festivals, Preisverleihungen, Tagungen und Workshops.
Anja Fahlenkamp is a political scientist and diplomat. She studied politics, social sciences and international relations in London, Tel Aviv and Berlin. She is the founder of the non-profit organisation “Faiths In Tune”, organizing interfaith music festivals, concerts, workshops and youth exchanges since 2012 in several cities, among them London and Berlin, to promote respect and peaceful coexistence between people of all religions through music. She regularly speaks about her interfaith work at international forums and conferences, is part of several international interfaith networks and has received several awards for her commitment. In addition to her work with “Faiths In Tune”, she currently works as a consultant in the European Migration Policy Unit of the German Foreign Office.
Dr. Manuela Bauche is a historian and heads the project “Geschichte der Ihnestraße 22” at the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin. The project is developing a place of remembrance and information on the history of the KWI for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics (1927-45), a history that connects to various histories of injustice and forms of dehumanisation.
More information about her work can be found on her website.
Sharon Dodua Otoo is an author, editor, and political activist. Otoo was awarded the Bachmann Prize in 2016 for the text Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin. In 2020, she gave the Klagenfurt Address on literature. Her debut novel Adas Raum was published in February 2021.
More information on Sharon Dodua Otto’s work can be found on her website.
Daniel Kahn is a musician and artist. He founded the cult klezmer band The Painted Bird, which received numerous awards, and also works on other bands. At the Maxim Gorki Theatre he was and is active as a director, composer, lyricist, music curator, author, and actor.
More information on the work of Daniel Khan can be found on the website of the Gorki Theatre.
Luciano Waldman is an archeologist and historian. Hi was born in Brazil, grew-up in Israel and lives in Portugal. After studying his master’s in Acheology in Portugal, Mr. Waldman dreamed of restoring community spirit in the last Jewish quarter of Lisbon where, in the 14th Century, Jews lived. For that he purchased a place at the Jewish street and elicited fundings to start cultural and communitarian projects.
His Jewish Cultural Center aims to promote Portuguese and Sephardic Jewish culture through the preservation of both material and intangible Jewish memory and identity. Currently, the project is also affiliated to an international association called JCC (Jewish Community Center), which also offers communitarian services.
The goal of the project -besides to be a cultural corridor and to promote jewish history- is to support and implement a dialogue between different religions and minorities in Portugal.
Luciano hopes to bring an understanding of Luso-Jewish history and culture as well as to provide a venue where the Jewish community can share and learn more about other cultures and historical influences of the area.
Sonja Viličić is leading efforts to confront prejudice and discrimination while promoting active citizenship through educational initiatives that explore Jewish culture, history, and tradition. Her work benefits the Jewish community and contributes to a more inclusive society in Serbia.
Furthermore, Sonja is a Jewish educator at the European Union of Jewish Students, project leader of an educational project of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia, facilitator at MASA Leadership Center, advisory board member at Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund, and member of the advisory educators’s group at Paideia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies.
Melissa Kolukisagil studied political science, social and communications studies with a focus on political education. She has been active in the Berlin club and music scene for a number of years. That led to the development of her pet project, İç İçe, the first diverse festival for contemporary Anatolian music in Germany. In addition, she heads the project “Diversitygerechtes Ausgehen in Berlin”, a cooperation between “Eine Welt der Vielfalt e.V.” and the Clubcommision, through which she can effect structural change on a topic that matter to her: reducing discrimination in clubs and making the diversity of the music landscape more visible.
Olesya Yaremchuk ist eine ukrainische Journalistin und Schriftstellerin, Mitglied des Ukrainischen PEN-Clubs. 2021 erschien ihr Buch „Unsere Anderen: Geschichten ukrainischer Vielfalt.“ in deutscher Übersetzung. Yaremchuk war Chefredakteurin des Choven Verlags, der Reportagen und Dokumentarliteratur herausgibt, aktuell unterrichtet sie an der UKU Universität Lviv. Sie ist Preisträgerin des Samovydets Literary Reportage Award und des LitAccent of the Year Award, beide in der Ukraine, sowie Finalistin des ADAMI Media Prize und des Lviv UNESCO City of Literature Award. Zudem ist sie Absolventin des Ostkurses 2014 des ifp in München.
Gianni Jovanovic is an activist and author. He is committed to the rights of Sinti*zze and Rom*nja and initiated the Queer Roma project, among others. He works on the topics of intersectional discrimination, the personal development of men, and empowerment & LGBTIQ.
More information on the work of Gianni Jovanovic can be found on his website.
Prof. Dr. Karim Fereidooni is a junior professor for the didactics of social science education at Ruhr University in Bochum with a focus on the critique of racism in educational institutions, school research and political education in the migration society as well as diversity-sensitive teacher training.
More information on Karim Fereidooni’s work can be found on his website and the website of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Ruhr University Bochum.
Muhammet Ali Baş is a language artist who works interdisciplinary on topics such as language, memory, representation and racism. In community projects in various constellations, he conveys artistic practices for empowerment and self-efficacy. He is currently curator and facilitator for outreach projects at Tangente St. Pölten in Austria, a festival for contemporary culture.
Marina Chernivsky is a psychologist and head of the ZWST’s Competence Centre for Prevention and Empowerment, as well as managing director of OFEK e.V. , a counselling centre for anti-Semitic violence and discrimination. She works and researches as a lecturer and educational trainer on anti-Semitism and discrimination and is co-editor of the journal Yalta – Positions on the Jewish Present.
More information on the work of Marina Chernivsky can be found on the Competence Centre website.
Sarah Grandke works on memory (culture) and marginalization, as well as migration and diaspora histories. Her current research project at the University of Regensburg focuses on Displaced Persons from Eastern Europe who were engaged in memory activism in West Germany and Austria after World War II. Previously, she has worked as a curator at the Hamburg documentation center “denk.mal Hannoverscher Bahnhof,” the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial, and the NS Documentation Center in Munich.
For more information about Sarah Grandke’s work, visit: http://gesternistjetzt.de/sarah-grandke/
Daniel Arkadij Gerzenberg ist Lyriker, Liedpianist und Autor des Buchs wiedergutmachungsjude, das 2023 in der Reihe Rohstoff bei Matthes & Seitz Berlin erscheint. Er arbeitet zu den Themen Identität, Antisemitismus und sexualisierte Gewalt. Mit Max Czollek kuratierte er die Reihe Lieder für das Jetzt (2022) beim Internationalen Musikfestival Heidelberger Frühling, in der zeitgenössische Lyriker*innen mit Musiker*innen der Liedszene neue Perspektiven auf textbasierte Kompositionen schaffen.
Eșim Karakuyu is an intersectional feminist, blogger, empowerment trainer and artist and also works in artistic biographical research. As an artist, she focusses on patriarchal structures in her installations. She is involved in Muslim social and youth work and has co-founded a participatory, empowering project that arose in the course of pro-feminist youth work and is based on narrative biographical work with young women. She also leads workshops centered around the pluralization of cultural heritage.
Dr. Darija Davidović ist Theater-und Kulturwissenschaftlerin. Sie ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Forschungsprojekt „Ästhetisierung von Kriegsgewalt in der zeitgenössischen darstellenden Kunst“ am Institut für Praktiken und Theorien der Künste der Hochschule der Künste Bern. Sie promovierte am Institut für Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft der Universität Wien mit ihrer Dissertation «Umkämpfte Kriegsvergangenheit(-en): Geschichtspolitische Strategien im serbischen und kroatischen Gegenwartstheater“, die 2024 veröffentlicht wird. Sie war als Aktivistin an feministischen und antifaschistischen Projekten und Kampagnen in Deutschland, Österreich und Serbien beteiligt.
Esra Küçük is the managing director of the Allianz Kulturstiftung, a non-profit foundation that initiates and promotes multilateral art, culture, and education projects in Europe and the Mediterranean region. She developed the idea of the Germany-wide educational programme Young Islam Conference. At the Maxim Gorki Theatre, she initiated the Gorki Forum as a place of discursive debate on diverse urban cultures, academics, and politics.
More information about Esra Küçük’s work can be found on the Gorki Theatre website.
Atalya Laufer is an artist. Her work reflects personal and collective memories and is shaped by diasporic thinking. In drawings, collages, paintings, and installations, she explores questions of belonging, intergenerational transmission, and migration. She studied in London, New York, and Berlin and was, among other things, a fellow of the Royal Drawing School and the Stiftung Brandenburger Tor.
“Everything they definitely DON’T teach you about Nazi crimes in school” – that’s the slogan of Susanne Siegert’s profiles, also known as @keine.erinnerungskultur. Out of personal interest, the trained journalist began researching a former satellite camp in her hometown in 2020 – today, she has more than 350,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. In 2024, she received a Grimme Online Award for her short videos.
Nina Prader is an artist, author, curator, and independent publish. Lady Liberty Press is the name of her independent micro publishing house for art, printed matters, and memorials. These include MemoryGames, a dialogical card game for commemorating the Shoah and most recently the Intersectional Commemoration Club Risograph Reader. She seeks to question, activate, and rethink cultural narratives.
Nina Reiprich is a freelance project developer, networker, dramaturg, producer, and moderator, with a focus on post-migrant, anti-racist, and diversity-oriented perspectives. After intensive years on Hamburg’s Elbe island Veddel, where she co-directed the cooperation and neighborhood project NEW HAMBURG together with three colleagues and curated the SoliPolis Festival, she ventured into self-employment. She has supported productions such as the “Decolonized Glamour Talks” by Lara-Sophie Milagro and has been part of the leadership team of the fluctoplasma festival since 2021.
Furkan Yüksel ist (historisch-)politischer Bildner. Er studierte Geschichtswissenschaften und Philosophie in Tübingen. Er war als freier Referent in der Jugend- und Erwachsenenbildung für u.a. Yad be Yad, WERTansich(t), der Bildungsinitiative Ferhat Unvar und Transaidency im Einsatz. In seiner Arbeit thematisierte er hauptsächlich Antisemitismus, Rassismus und Rechtsextremismus. Seit 2021 versteht er sich als Botschafter für das Stuttgarter Projekt „Schalom und Salam“.
Zur Zeit ist er Bildungsreferent mit Schwerpunkt „Rassismus und Antisemitismus in der Migrationsgesellschaft“ bei der Bildungsstätte Anne Frank.
Nhi Le is a journalist and moderator. Her focus areas are digital media culture, the intersections of pop and politics, and the immigrant society in East Germany, with a focus on the Vietnamese diaspora.
Alain Leite Stampfli studied social anthropology and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Bern. Since 2026, he has served as Deputy Head of the Swiss Federal Government’s Service for Combating Racism, where he is primarily responsible for strengthening and connecting actors engaged in anti-racism efforts. As a board member of the Institute for New Switzerland (INES), he is also committed to fostering an inclusive public discourse on Swiss identity and to advancing recognition of Switzerland as the pluralistic society it has long been.
Michael Podgorac (aka Mikal Maldoror) ist Kurator, Filmemacher, Produzent, Herausgeber und multimedialer Künstler. Er ist aktuell Co-Leiter und Co-Kurator der Initiative Erinnern in Zukunft sowie Projektkoordinator in der Brunnenpassage. Er ist außerdem Co-Gründer der Bands Soda Gomorra und Ausländer, in denen er bis heute als Schlagzeuger aktiv ist. 2021 veröffentlichte er das 548-seitige Buch AUZINE – Vienna’s Underground Fanzine, ein radikales Archiv der Wiener DIY-, Club- und Subkulturszene der 2010er Jahre mit Beiträgen von über 160 Mitwirkenden. Sein Spielfilm Permanently Temporary (2023) erzählt die Geschichte eines Migranten aus Bosnien, der zwischen Kriegserinnerung, Bürokratie und emotionaler Isolation in Wien seinen Platz sucht. 2025 erschienen in Co-Herausgeberschaft mit Anne Wiederhold-Daryanavard die Bücher Erinnern in Zukunft – Aufrufe für plurales Erinnern und Bunker 16 – Geschichte(n) – zwei Publikationen über demokratische Erinnerungskultur, marginalisierte Narrative und die Wiederaneignung vergessener Orte.
Mithu Sanyal is a cultural scientist, journalist, and author. She is a three-time recipient of the Dietirch Oppenberg Medienpreis of the Stiftung Lesen for her radio plays and features, primarily produced for WDR. Sanyal writes for various broadcasters and newspapers including BR, SWR, Deutschlandfunk, the Bundeszentral für Politische Bildung, DIE ZEIT, and taz. Her book “Vulva”, a cultural history of the female genitalia, was published by Wagenbach Verlag in 2009, with a new edition released in 2017. It was followed by publications on sexism (Orlanda Verlag, 2013) and sexual violence (Edition Nautilus, 2016). In 2021, she celebrated the publication of her first novel, “Identitti”, by Hanserverlag.
Emily Dische-Becker is a journalist, curator, and author. She researches and writes on the topics of anti-Semitism, cultures of memory, and Middle East politics. She is currently working on a volume of essays and supports the work of the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism.
Follow her on Twitter.
Lin Hierse is a journalist and author. She works primarily on the topics of diversity in the media, intersectionality, and identity. Among other things, she writes the column Poetical Correctness for the taz.
More information on Lin Hierse’s work can be found on the taz website.
Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç lehrt und forscht an Berliner Hochschulen u.a. zu (antimuslimischem) Rassismus, Antisemitismus, Orientalismus, Erinnerung und Subjektivierung sowie zu widerständiger Kunst- und Kulturproduktion. 2021 wurde er als Mitglied der Expert*innenkommission gegen antimuslimischen Rassismus in Berlin berufen. Sein Buch „Muslimaniac. Die Karriere eines Feindbildes“ (2021) erschien in der Edition Körber.
Prof*In Dr.*In Swantje Lichtenstein is an artist, poet, professor, and activist and works poetically in theory and theoretically in poetry, transgressing the arts conceptually, transmedially and performatively. She is a professor for aesthetic practice and text at the Hochschule Düsseldorf. Most recently published books: Am Ende der Weissheit / Verschalte Verbindungen (2021).
More information about Swantje Lichtenstein’s work can be found on her website.
Evalina Gomes Dias, an Afro-Portuguese Black woman, is a human rights activist, founding member, and chair of Djass (Association of Afro-descendants) http://djass.pt/, an anti-racist organization founded in May 2016 in Lisbon/Portugal that advocates for the rights of Black people, Africans, and descendants of Africans in Portugal. On behalf of the organization, she was responsible for submitting a project to the Lisbon City Hall (2017) proposing the establishment of a “Memorial to Honor the People Enslaved by the Portuguese Empire” in Lisbon. https://www.memorialescravatura.com/
She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE) and a Bachelor’s degree in Management and Public Administration from the Instituto Superior Ciências Sociais e Políticas (ISCSP)
Lamya Kaddor is a religious educator, Islamic studies scholar and publicist. She leads prevention programmes for young people against Islamism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. These are some of the topics covered in her column Zwischentöne.
More information on Lamya Kaddor’s work can be found on her website.
Erkan İnan is Project Director and Curator of ausARTen – Perspektivwechsel durch Kunst, an educational consultant, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Münchner Volkshochschule, as well as the advisory board of Toleranz-Tunnel e.V. He develops artistic and social formats at the intersection of memory culture, post-migrant urban society, and contemporary education.
Prof. Ahmad Milad Karimi, born in Kabul in 1979, studied philosophy and Islamic studies at the Universität Freiburg im Breisgau and received his doctorate in 2012 with a thesis on Hegel and Heidegger. He is a full professor of Kalām, Islamic philosophy and mysticism at the Universität Münster. Karimi is deputy director of the Zentrum für Islamische Theologie at the Universität Münster and director of the international Muhammad Iqbal Research Centre. In 2019, he received the Voltaire Prize for “Toleranz, Völkerverständigung und Respekt vor Differenz” from the University of Potsdam.
Hannan Salamat studied cultural and religious studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. She is a co-founder and curator of the Munich arts festival ausARTen – Perspektivwechsel durch Kunst. She became head of the Islam department at the Zürcher Institut für interreligiösen Dialog in 2019. She has organised events, workshops, and conferences on Islam, anti-racism, postcolonialism, plurality, and feminism and advises city institutions in Zurich on these topics.
Peggy Piesche is head of the Department of Political Education and Plural Democracy at the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), focusing on diversity, intersectionality, and decoloniality. She is a board member of ASWAD (Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora) and has been rooted in the feminist movement of Black women* since 1990 via Adefra e.V..
More information on Peggy Piesche’s work can be found on LinkedIn and the bpb website.
Dr. Julana Bredtmann is a political scientist with a passion for cooperation on both international and local levels. She has worked for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and currently heads the Memorial Sites Department at the Topography of Terror Foundation. The Memorial Sites Department supports networking, as well as the transfer of knowledge and experience within the decentralized landscape of memorial sites.
Ulf Aminde ist Künstler und Filmemacher und arbeitet in den letzten Jahren an den Schnittstellen von kritischer Erinnerung und Solidarität. Seit 2016 entwickelt er gemeinsam mit Betroffenen und solidarischen Initiativen – und mit Hilfe von Augmented-Reality-Technologien ein hybrides und filmbasiertes Mahnmal, das an die rassistischen Anschläge des NSU in Köln erinnert und die Geschichten und Kämpfe der Betroffenen gegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus sichtbar machen soll. An der Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin initiierte er 2016 die *foundationClass, die Fragen nach den Ein- und Ausschlussmechanismen von Kunsthochschulen stellt und ein Raum für Künstler*innen und Designer*innen ist, die aus ihren Heimatländern fliehen mussten sowie von Rassismus und Ausgrenzung betroffen sind. In seiner eigenen Lehre forscht er zu inklusiven Räumen und Methodiken des gestalterischen Unterrichts in den Grundlagen.
Ibrahim Arslan is a political educator who has been involved in anti-racism work for many years. He is reporting from the perspective of those affected, at events, conferences and, above all, in schools as a political education speaker. Through the »Mölln Speech in Exile«, which he has been organizing together with his family and circle of friends since 2013 in memory of the racist arson attacks in Mölln in 1992, he established a new culture of remembrance in Germany that actively involves the relatives of racist murders and attacks and fights against forgetting.
Deniz Utlu is an essayist, columnist, and writer. He founded the culture and society magazine freitext and studied macro-economics in Berlin und Paris. His debut novel, “Die Ungehaltenen”, was published in 2014 (Graf Verlag) and was adapted by the Maxim Gorki Theater for the stage in 2015. His second novel, “Gegen Morgen”, was released in 2019 (Suhrkamp Verlag). Utlu is the author of numerous essays that have appeared as features in newspapers and anthologies (most recently in: “Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum”, Ullstein, 2019). The writer has received numerous awards for his literary work.
Mohamed Amjahid is a journalist and author of the books Unter Weißen – Was es heißt privilegiert zu sein (2017) and Der weiße Fleck: Eine Anleitung zu antirassistischem Denken (2021). In his taz column Die Nafrichten he writes about racism and European immigration policies, among other things.
More information on Mohamed Amjahid’s work can be found on the taz website and on Instagram.
Márcia Elisa Moser is a consultant for critical diversity and anti-discrimination work. From 2000 to 2006 she studied gender studies and religious studies in Berlin. From 2006 to 2014,
Márcia Elisa Moser was a research associate at the Institut für Religionswissenschaft der Freien Universität Berlin and at the Philipps-Universität Marburg. From 2016 to 2021 she held a position as a consultant in the areas of gender equality and diversity policies at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main.
Her focus areas are intersectionality, the relationship between religion-gender-sexuality, and body symbolism. More information on the work of Márcia Moser can be found on her website.
Ihre Themenschwerpunkte sind Intersektionalität, das Verhältnis von Religion-Geschlecht-Sexualität, und Körpersymbolik.
Prasanna Oommen is a moderator, communications consultant, and speaker in the fields of culture, education, society, and media. She leads training courses, advises institutions, and moderates workshops and events to include plural perspectives. Her main topics are transcultural opening in the public and independent cultural landscapes, and culture of remembrance, educational equality and digitalisation, cultural education & diversity, urban development and diversity-sensitive communication.
More information on Prasanna Oommen’s work can be found on her website.
Born in Vila Nova de Gaia and now based in Lisbon, Portugal, André Castro Soares has built a career at the intersection of journalism, anthropology, and education. He graduated in Communication Sciences from the University of Minho and has worked as a cultural journalist in Portugal and Angola, focusing on music and dance. Later, he pursued a master’s and a PhD in Anthropology at ISCTE-IUL, researching semba as intangible cultural heritage. He is an integrated member of CRIA (Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia). Alongside his academic accomplishments, he has been involved in media production and cultural initiatives. He currently teaches History, continuing to bridge scholarly work and community engagement.
Julia Wissert is a director of acting at the Theater Dortmund. Her stage works straddle the borders between musical theatre, theatre, performance, and audio installations and have won several awards. In her work, she pursues a power-critical, intersectional approach to deal with both theatre as an institution and the society in which it is rooted.
More information about Julia Wissert’s work can be found on the website of the Theater Dortmund and in a portrait in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Mamadou Saliou Diallo is the brother of Oury Jalloh. His brother was taken to a police station without any valid reason, abused, and ultimately burned to death in a cell in Dessau, with his hands and feet tied to a mattress on the floor.
Since the murder of his brother on 7 January 2005, he has been fighting for truth and justice, as well as against racism, anti-Semitism, and police violence. His commitment is dedicated to his brother and to all other victims in Germany.
He is part of the solidarity network for victims of far-right, racist, and anti-Semitic violence and stands in solidarity with those affected worldwide. In addition, he participates in the court proceedings in his brother’s case, as well as in conferences, commemorative events, and other public gatherings.
Lea Wohl von Haselberg is a media scientist who researches and writes on Jewish film history and audiovisual cultures of memory. Since 2017, she has been leading research projects at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF on the working biographies of Jewish filmmakers and the emergence of the idea of ‘Jewish film’ in film culture. She is a co-editor of Yalta. Positions on the Jewish Present and part of the programme collective of the Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg.
More information on Lea Wohl von Haselberg’s work can be found on the website of the Babelsberg Film University.
