TikTok has become a space where playfulness is the dominant lingo for engaging with serious subjects. On the platform, the Holocaust is mediated through meme-based performances like the #POVHolocaustChallenge, a trend that invited users to re-enact fictionalized memories of Holocaust victims. Our analysis of 250 videos identifies 3 types of Holocaust-related memetic narratives—mem(e)ories: (1) Testimonial Mem(e)ory, where “victims” testify from “heaven” as confessional storytelling; (2) Punitive Mem(e)ory, where “victims” choose to be sent back to the Holocaust as punishment; and (3) Escapist Mem(e)ory, where “victims” time travel from the 1940s to the present for a brief escape. Drawing on interviews with 15 creators and 7 Holocaust institution representatives, we argue that #POV challenges re-mediate past events, transform into education, and serve as a means for forging personal connections to the Holocaust. We introduce TikTok’s affordance of playability as a structural condition that governs participation, with users merging performative storytelling with remix culture and inscribing Holocaust (post)memory into their platformed experiences.

The Arab-Israeli conflict was the first foreign-policy arena tackled by the European Community (EC), the predecessor of today’s European Union (EU), upon its decision to turn itself from an economic power into a political player on the world stage. This paper explores the EC’s policy formation on the conflict in the early 1970s and asks why and how the European Political Cooperation (EPC) mechanism that was established for that purpose formulated its policy. It argues that policymakers’ main goal in conducting European policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict was to strengthen the nascent European political integration process and position the EC as a global actor. The paper is based on previously unresearched archival diplomatic records from the British National Archives and the Israel State Archives. It provides, for the first time, empirical evidence that leads to historical conclusions on EPC policy formulation on the conflict. These, in turn, contribute to the conceptual understanding of phenomena regarding European foreign policy, political integration and normative power. The paper sheds light on a pivotal episode in European foreign policy that has not yet been fully explored, as well as on Europe’s first foray into the realm of foreign policy at large.

How are we to interpret the rising popularity of right-wing populist and outright authoritarian parties in European democracies? Commonly, elections are seen as handing a mandate to their winners. So, are such forces increasingly receiving a mandate from voters to carry out their policies? This article reviews three recent books (Authoritarianism and the Evolution of West European Electoral Politics by Erik R. Tillman, Democracy Erodes from the Top by Larry M. Bartels, and Voters under Pressure by Ruth Dassonneville) and argues that the mandate interpretation strikes out. These books illustrate how politicians shape “mandates,” how “mandates” can be ignored by those in power, and how the party system and the electorate are not structured (anymore) in a way to allow for genuine mandates to emerge.

Square Hebrew typefaces had seen little development since the introduction of movable types in Europe. In the early 1900s, driven by the emergence of secular Hebrew culture, Rafael Frank and Josef Kaplan made significant contributions to the discourse and practice of Hebrew typeface design. Although neither were formally trained as type designers, they advocated for important reforms in Hebrew typefaces. This article analyzes the different approaches to meruba (square) typeface modernization proposed by Frank and Kaplan through a close examination of two articles published in Archiv für Buchgewerbe, a publishing trade journal. The first is Frank’s 1911 essay, Über hebräische Typen und Schriftarten. The second is Kaplan's 1916 Vorschläge zur Verbesserung der hebräischen Schriftformen. The study reveals fundamental differences in their conceptualization of modern square Hebrew typefaces. While both aimed to adapt traditional meruba letterforms for secular, contemporary use, their published writings display distinct theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches. Frank sought letterforms that adhered to Jewish scribal traditions while meeting current needs. In contrast, Kaplan proposed a radical transformation of Hebrew typography and orthography. This comparative analysis underscores a pivotal moment in the modernization of Hebrew typography while addressing the research gap on Hebrew type design discourse.

Cities are experiencing accelerated growth in visitor numbers to the point of overcrowding, raising concerns about negative effects on both destinations and residents. Academic discourse on overtourism primarily addresses environmental damage, infrastructure overload, and resident dissatisfaction, often overlooking how tourists experience overcrowding. When examined, tourist experiences have predominantly been measured using subjective self-report tools such as questionnaires and surveys.

This study addresses this gap by introducing an objective, real-time, multi-method framework that integrates spatiotemporal tracking, wearable physiological sensors, and mobile eye-tracking to assess visitors' emotional and visual responses to various conditions of density and congestion outside the laboratory. Although the pilot experiment was conducted with local participants due to international travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the methodology developed is relevant for broader application to tourist populations.

Results show that high visitor numbers affect visitors' emotional states and visual attention. Furthermore, the study proposes that the aforementioned methodology can be applied not only for the dependent variable, that is, emotional arousal, but for the independent variable, density and congestion, as well. By presenting the tourist gaze as a dynamic metric to measure density and congestion, the study advances theory and offers tourism destination managers and urban planners' tools to cope with overcrowding and enhance the tourist experience.

Government-led assaults on academic freedom are experienced worldwide: in Turkey with President Erdogan's appointment of pro-regime university rectors based on the 2016 statutory decree that abolished rector elections and authorized the president to make such appointments; in Hungary with President Orban's attack on academia famously resulting in the 2018 relocation of the Central European University from Budapest to Vienna; in the United States with Governor DeSantis' 2022 Stop Woke Act that restricts studies of race and gender at Florida's colleges and universities; in Poland with the 2023 withdrawal of research funding from Dr Engelking because her study's findings were declared an attack on the Polish nation; in my own country of Israel with Prime Minister Netanyahu's ruinous 2024 legislative initiative that proposes the expulsion of students and firing of academic faculty for political views; and the 2025 series of decisions by the US Federal administration to scrutinize academic language and defund academic research. These examples are neither insular or singular occurrences; rather, in all these countries and elsewhere, the democratically elected but increasingly authoritarian regime launched targeted attacks on academia and systematic interferences in higher education and science. Moreover, the assault on academia in these countries is politically driven and distinct from the broader devastation of higher education or science caused by war or ongoing repression. Rather, these actions aim at the very foundations of academic freedom in institutionalized settings, undermining established pro-tections that safeguard academics' rights to teach, research, publish and express learned opinions without constraint.

Henry Mintzberg's seminal work (Management Science 26(3):322-341, 1980) defined "professional bureaucracy" in organizations, highlighting its reliance on the expertise of the profession intrinsic to its operations, such as the professoriate in universities. However, the pervasive influence of managerialism has increasingly infiltrated university governance, challenging Mintzberg's model in two significant ways. Firstly, managerialization introduces professional managers into leadership roles traditionally held by academics, encroaching on the professional authority and autonomy of the professoriate as envisioned by Mintzberg. Secondly, managerialization provokes academics to acquire administrative skills, blurring the boundaries between academic and administrative roles throrgh professionalization. This study offers an empirical investigation into the professionalization of university leadership by focusing on leadership training programs in Israel. These programs underscore nuanced differences in curriculum and pedagogy tailored to the participant composition—academics versus administrators—reflecting evolving roles and expectations from leadership within universities. Importantly, our findings reveal a trend towards "hybrid expertise," combining academic vision with managerial proficiency, therefore reshaping conventional notions of academic leadership. Through an examination of these training initiatives, our aim is to explore how managerial practices intersect with academic culture, thereby redefining Mintzberg's conceptualization of professional bureaucracy. This empirical approach contributes to broader discussions on the restructuring of university leadership roles amidst increasing managerial influence, offering insights for future research and practical implications in higher education governance.

In calmer times, there might have been a surfeit of laudatory speeches, mutual visits, and conferences marking the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany in May 2025.Footnote1 Not that it would have aroused much interest from the media in either country (although these things always get more attention in Germany), since such bilateral events are no longer seen as anything new. The “special relationship” has almost become part of our routine. Still, it would have been celebrated extensively as part of the standard ritual.

On the eve of the Second World War, working-class Jews, Muslims, and Europeans in colonial Constantine shared the same social space and interacted with each other every day. The establishment of the Vichy regime in 1940, and the implementation in Algeria of Vichy’s anti-Semitic laws, disrupted these social dynamics and produced new social desires and anxieties. Some working-class Europeans hoped that soon they would no longer be forced to share the same social space with the ‘inferior’ Jews. Some working-class Muslims hoped that social privileges taken from the Jews would be granted to them. These expectations never materialised, as working-class Jews’ were still present and active in the city, and their stripped rights were never reallocated to Muslims. The disparity between social expectations and realities, this article shows, contributed to inter-communal violence. Dozens of violent confrontations between Jews and Europeans and between Jews and Muslims took place in streets, cafés, stores, and markets. These confrontations developed from mundane social disagreements. But as they unfolded, all parties involved used racial categories to identify and vilify members of the opposite group. As a result, in the aftermath of the war, ethno-class resentments in Constantine intensified and communal boundaries hardened.

This article examines how Nazi-era film footage shaped Holocaust memory in post-war German film documentaries. From the mid-1950s, filmmakers began using previously unreleased archival footage to document the persecution of European Jews, a subject that had been largely suppressed until then. These films often relied on unpublished records from propaganda units, soldiers and Nazi officials. As a result, they contain ‘contagious images’ that either had served as propaganda or concealed violence, and often reflected the perpetrators’ detached and cold perspective. Despite these challenges, directors repurposed this footage to expose Nazi crimes and emphasize Jewish suffering, shifting focus away from the perpetrators’ perspective. By analyzing films such as Den BlodigaTiden/Mein Kampf (Bloody Times/My Struggle, 1960, Erwin Leiser) and Auf den Spuren des Henkers (On the Trail of the Hangman, 1961, Peter Schier-Gribowsky), this article explores strategies used to reframe these ‘contagious images’ and analyses how they contributed to a collective memory of the Holocaust. These documentaries countered post-war silence, allowing audiences to engage with repressed histories and fostering a collective reckoning. The use of archival footage not only established and shaped a visual language that underscored the atrocities but also emphasised the importance of memory preservation.