Conference Report: ‘Berlin, Paris, London and Beyond - Ongoing Projects, Forthcoming Events and Future Publications’ - One-day Communism Studies Seminar By Ceri Carter On 28 March 2013 the Twentieth Century Communism journal convened their one day Communism Studies seminar at the Atrium campus of the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales). The conference entitled, ‘Berlin, Paris, London and beyond – ongoing projects, forthcoming events and future publications’ was organised by our very own Dr Norry LaPorte. The day was split into four sessions, three of which were dedicated to the manifestation of communism in three different areas of Europe; the Weimar Republic (Germany between the wars), Spain and Paris. The fourth session took the form of a round table discussion with the aim of discussing new projects and work that had been inspired by the conference. The first sitting of the day, headed 'Werner Scholem and German Communism under the Weimar Republic: New Biographical Research & Eyewitness Testimony', began with an account by Ralf Hoffrogge (University of Potsdam) of the political life of Werner Scholem. Scholem was a leading Jewish figure in the German Communist (KPD) Party during the Weimar Republic. Hoffrogge's paper delves into the complicated life that Scholem led as both a Jew and a communist; a life that is only now just being remembered for what he did for the party instead of because of his Jewish background. A Trotskyite and a renegade, Scholem was expelled from the party for aligning himself with the Trotskyite element; a section that were seen as traitors in East Germany. Hoffrogge's paper is an enlightening study of Scholem's life focusing on his life as a communist. This paper was followed by accounts from Renate Scholem, daughter of Werner Scholem, and Hanno Fry both communist exiles in Britain in the 1940s. Held in an internment camp on the Isle of Man in 1940, Renate was surrounded by other communist exiles who subscribed to the Stalinist way of thinking who viewed Renate with suspicion because of her father's links with Trotskyism. Much of this section was based upon Renate's experiences as a
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