Holocaust Memory and Muslims in Germany

Dark grey columns overshadow the onlooker. The title words, "Subcontractors of guilt", are superimposed.
Subcontractors of guilt - detail from cover design (Stanford University Press, 2022)

The first major study to analyse and propose ways of improving Holocaust education programs designed for Muslims, this project reconsiders the core of contemporary debates on European identity by looking at the crucial but oft overlooked connections between Holocaust memory and the integration of Muslims into the European moral order. It examines how Holocaust education and the values of empathy and tolerance it aims to inculcate influence European Muslim minorities and bordering Muslim majorities.

The project has been funded by the British Academy, German Academic Exchange (DAAD), and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

During 2024, funds from the Arts & Humanities Research Council enabled KIgA e.V., a Berlin-based NGO, to workshop ideas to build relevant learning into ENCATE Network training for anti-racist educators.

A German language adaptation of Subcontractors of Guilt (prepared for a general audience) was published in March 2025. Publisher Klett Cotta has arranged events with Professor Özyürek in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Principal Investigator

Professor Esra Özyürek

Publications

Subcontractors of guilt: Holocaust memory and Muslim belonging in post-war Germany. 2023. Stanford University Press.

German edition: Stellvertreter der Schuld: Erinnerungskultur und muslimische Zugehörigkeit in Deutschland. 2025. Klett Cotta. Featuring a foreword from Eva Menasse. Preview the German foreword and opening pages via book2look.de.

“Muslim Minorities as Germany’s Past Future: Islam Critics, Holocaust Memory, and Immigrant Integration” Memory Studies 15(1), 2019.

“Rethinking Empathy: Emotions Triggered by the Holocaust among Muslim-minority in Germany” Anthropological Theory 18(4): 456-477, 2018.

A landscape formed of tall dark stone-like columns, overshadowing the viewer
Subcontractors of guilt - cover design (Stanford University Press, 2022)

Media

Opinion | Der Standard. “Erinnerung darf kein Doppelstandard sein”. Read this German-language opinion piece at DerStandard.at. 9 October 2025.

Interview | Zeit Online. Nina Monecke interviews Professor Esra Özyürek following publication of Stellvertreter der Schuld. Read “Muslime haben einen inneren Konflikt der Deutschen gelöst” at Zeit.de. 8 May 2025.

Podcast | Divinity Divulged (episode one). Dr Joseph Powell interviews Professor Esra Özyürek. Released in October 2024. Listen to Divinity Divulged on Spotify.com.

Podcast | Ted Knudsen (Oxford University) interviews Professor Esra Özyürek for the Spaßbremse podcast, episode 53: “‘Importing’ Antisemitism, Subcontracting Guilt”. 27 January 2024. Listen to Spaßbremse on Spotify.com.

Interview | “Germany Should Stop Outsourcing Its Shame Over Historic Antisemitism to Migrants” (Ruairí Casey). Jacobin.com. 5 December 2023.

Interview | Available in German: “Wir müssen Antisemitismus und Islamfeindlichkeit gemeinsam bekämpfen” (quantara.de) and English “We must fight anti-Semitism and Islamophobia together” (qantara.de). 28 November 2023.

Interview | German: “So verfestigt sich der Hass”. Zeit Online | With English summary, “How hate solidifies” (CIP) 3 November 2023.

Podcast | Dr Armanc Yildiz (Humboldt University) interviews Professor Esra Özyürek about the book, Subcontractors of Guilt. New Books Network, August 2023.

Inaugural lecture and launch: To and from Subcontractors of Guilt. Faculty of Divinity YouTube Channel. 3 May 2023.

Opinion | German Muslims’ ‘Shocking’ Response to the Holocaust. Ha'aretz.com. 1 February 2021.

Press coverage

[Review] Subcontractors of Guilt—Sonia Combe. Le Monde diplomatique. March 2024.

[Review] “Memory failure”—Pankaj Misra. London Review of Books. 4 January 2024.

[German:] “Wie die Deutschen auf Israel blicken” (How Germans view Israel)—Michael Schlegel. Süddeutsche Zeitung. 4 December 2023.

“The crackdown on pro-Palestinian gatherings in Germany”—Sanders Isaac Bernstein. CodaStory.com.  6 November 2023.

“Bad Memory”—a responsa published in the Spring 2023 issue of Jewish Currents (jewishcurrents.org). Reponsas form the co-written editorial column of this publication. (A version of the article is also available in German.)

Events

Holocaust and Genocide Studies Annual Lecture 2025: Subcontractors of Guilt, University of Amsterdam, 8 October 2025.