Jan Assmann 1938-2024

Jan Assmann at the Sigmund Freud Lecture 2019. Photo: Wulz

We mourn the loss of Jan Assmann. For decades, the Egyptologist, religion and culture scholar ranked among the leading intellectuals in the German-speaking world. In 2019, he gave the Sigmund Freud Lecture " Moses tragicus. Freud, Schönberg und der scheiternde Moses ". He remained in connection with the Sigmund Freud Museum afterwards, contributing to the annotated edition of Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion published by Vienna University Press in 2023. Jan Assmann and his wife, the literary scholar Aleida Assmann, were awarded the Balzan Prize in 2017 for their research on "Collective Memory" and received the Peace Prize of the German Book Publishers and Bokkseller’s Association (Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels) the following year. The Sigmund Freud Museum and the scientific community have lost an alert and critical mind who was able to link historical themes and issues with current discourses, thus opening up new dimensions to our "culture of remembrance" in the German-speaking world. In his memory, you can watch the Sigmund Freud Lecture 2019 (in German) here.