Who Was Maurice Halbwachs and Why Is the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Honouring Him?
Maurice Halbwachs was an influential French sociologist and philosopher. His wide-ranging work includes fundamental contributions to the sociology of labour and economics, the sociology of social classes, urban sociology, the sociology of suicide, social morphology and statistics. His study on »The Social Frameworks of Memory«, published in 1925, and his subsequent theory of collective memory are regarded as influential far beyond his time. Halbwachs was also a pioneer of Franco-German academic exchange and inter-confessional dialogue. In the summer of 1944, Halbwachs was arrested and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, where he died in March 1945 as a result of the harsh conditions of his imprisonment.
By renaming the auditorium after him, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is honouring an eminent scientist, academic, and European philanthropist at a central location, they are also memorialising the victims of German National Socialism. The university recognises its responsibility to recognize history and opposes all forms of totalitarian violence
Renaming Ceremony
On Wednesday, 4 December 2024, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar ceremoniously renamed the »Auditorium Maximum« to the »Maurice Halbwachs Auditorium«. »To the key speeches
Photos: Bauhaus-Universität Weimar/ Thomas Müller
Video: Bauhaus-Universität Weimar/ Berke Inöntepe (Camera) / Steven Mehlhorn (Camera & Editing)
Biographical Information About Maurice Halbwachs
Born in 1877 in Reims, Halbwachs studied philosophy (with, among others, Henri Bergson and Émile Durkheim), law, and sociology. His academic career took him from the Université de Strasbourg to the University of Chicago to the Collège de France. In 1945, Halbwachs died at Buchenwald concentration camp as a result of the harsh conditions of his imprisonment.
» An intellectual who thought beyond borders«
In this interview, Professor Henning Schmidgen and Professor Frank Eckardt speak about the sociologist and philosopher Maurice Halbwachs, as well as their relationship to his work and his legacy.
»Das kollektive Gedächtnis« Medienkultur Seminar
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar students will also be focussing on the work of Maurice Halbwachs, particularly during the winter semester of 2024/25. The »Das kollektive Gedächtnis« (collective memory) Medienkultur seminar, taught by Professor Henning Schmidgen, is a reading course that explores the foundational principles of Halbwachs' theory of memory and places it within current debates in cultural and social sciences.
