Magnus Klaue

Dr. Magnus Klaue is an Affiliated Researcher at the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture in Leipzig since 2021, previously serving as a Research Associate from 2015 to 2021. His academic foundation includes studies in German Literature, Philosophy, Theatre and Film at Freie Universität Berlin, where he also worked as a Research Associate at the Institute for Modern German Literature under Prof. Dr. Marlies Janz from 2003 to 2008.

His educational background comprises:

• MA in German Literature, Philosophy, Theatre and Film, Freie Universität Berlin (2001)
• PhD from Freie Universität Berlin (completed circa 2008) with thesis "Poetischer Enthusiasmus. Else Lasker-Schülers Ästhetik der Kolportage"

Dr. Klaue's research centers on Critical Theory—particularly Max Horkheimer's intellectual biography—and the history/poetics of German-Jewish and Austrian literature from the 19th-20th centuries. He critically examines language criticism (Fritz Mauthner, Karl Kraus), satire, and vagabondage in modern aesthetics, with significant contributions to German-Israeli academic relations and Holocaust literature. His monograph "The Last Citizen. An Intellectual Biography of Max Horkheimer" and co-edited volumes like "Bruchlinien. Deutsch-israelische Wissenschaftsbeziehungen" establish him as a key scholar in Central European intellectual history.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals sustained engagement with Horkheimer's role in post-war Germany and Frankfurt School theory, while his work on Fritz Mauthner bridges linguistic philosophy and Jewish cultural critique. The recurring themes of testimony, cultural dialogue, and aesthetic resistance demonstrate how his scholarship navigates the intersections of Jewish identity, language politics, and Central European modernity through interdisciplinary methodologies spanning literary studies, intellectual history, and critical theory.