Jan Philipp Reemtsma studied German Literature and Philosophy in Hamburg and also received his doctorate there. From 1996 until 2007 he was Professor for Contemporary German Literature at the University of Hamburg. In 2008 he was the Johannes-Gutenberg Professor at the University of Mainz; currently, he is Schiller-Professor at the University of Jena. In 1981 Reemtsma created the Arno Schmidt Foundation to preserve, disseminate, and study the work of writer Arno Schmidt and has been on its board of directors since then. In 1984 he also launched the Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture. In the same year, he established the Hamburg Institute for Social Research [Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung], a private foundation best known for its controversial Wehrmacht exhibition. The Institute focuses on the study of the theory and history of violence; the society of the Federal Republic of Germany; and the relationship between Nation and Society. Among the honors awarded to Reemtsma are the Wieland Medal (1984); the Copernicus Medal of the University of Kraków (1987); the Lessing Prize of the City of Hamburg (1997); the Fine Arts Prize for Literature of Lower Saxony (2001); the Leibniz Medal of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (2002); the Heinz Galinski Prize for fostering German-Jewish understanding (2003); and an honorary doctorate of the University of Magdeburg (2007). Reemtsma also received the Teddy Kollek Award of the Jerusalem Foundation at a ceremony in Israel’s Knesset in October 2007. Recent publications include: Wie hätte ich mich verhalten? und andere nicht nur deutsche Fragen (2001); Das unaufhebbare Nichtbescheidwissen der Mehrheit (2005); Folter im Rechtstaat? (2005); Das Scheinproblem “Willensfreiheit”. Ein Plädoyer für das Ende einer überflüssigen Debatte (2008) und Vertrauen und Gewalt. Versuch über eine besondere Konstellation der Moderne (2008).