The Last Europeans. Jewish Pespectives on the Crises of an Idea

Graz Museum
May 22, 2025 – Januar 11, 2026


„One wonders whether history is not in the process of forging a witty synthesis of two Nietzschean terms, namely that of the good European and that of the last man. This could result in the last European. We all struggle not to become one.“
Walter Benjamin in a letter to Stephan Lackner, Paris, May 5, 1940

What was the “European project” and what has become of it? And what will become of it? In times of worrying global challenges, has the European community moved further apart instead of closer together? Are national interests increasingly being played off against European solutions?

Against the backdrop of these questions, we look at Jewish individuals who, in the face of the destruction of Europe in the 20th century, crossed national and cultural borders, reclaimed the universal significance of human rights and passionately pursued a European dream. Based on their commitment to a united and peaceful Europe, the exhibition also explores its current vulnerability.

The museum opens up as a place of debate about the future of Europe, about the real and ideal substance of the European Union, about threats and opportunities, about forward-looking and outdated concepts. The European Enlightenment will be debated here, as will its offspring: secularization and modernity, emancipation and participation, nationalism and chauvinism, colonialism and capitalism.
 

An exhibition of the Jewish Museum Hohenems in the Graz Museum.

Curators: Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek, Michaela Feurstein-Prasser (Vienna)
Project management: Hanno Loewy (Hohenems)
Exhibition Architecture: Martin Kohlbauer (Vienna)
Graphic design: Atelier Stecher (Götzis)
Adaptation Graz: look! design (Graz)
Project management Graz Museum: Ogül Büber-Ottitsch (Graz)

www.lasteuropeans.eu offers not only a tour of our exhibition, but also interviews on the development of Europe, recordings of events – and a critical European diary.

Opening of the exhibition in the Graz Museum, May 21, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Reiser

Opening of the exhibition in the Graz Museum, May 21, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Reiser

Opening of the exhibition in the Graz Museum, May 21, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Reiser

Opening of the exhibition in the Graz Museum, May 21, 2025. Martin Kohlbauer, Hanno Loewy, Sibylle Dienesch and Michaela Feurstein-Prasser. Photo: Sebastian Reiser