„Dialogue over division and cooperation over conflict“

United Kingdom, London. The London Regional Chapter’s visit to the Warburg Institute. Dr. Nagila Warburg. 05.03.2025.

On the occasion of the London Regional Chapter’s visit to the Warburg Institute, Dr. Nagila Warburg discussed the legacy of Aby and Eric Warburg and its relevance in these uncertain transatlantic times.

by Dr. Nagila Warburg

Dear members and friends of Atlantik-Brücke,
Dear Ambassador Miguel Berger, dear Prof. Bill Sherman,

On behalf of Atlantik-Brücke, a very warm welcome here at this special place: the newly refurbished Warburg Institute – the successfully finished Renaissance project.
Thank you, dear Bill Sherman and all Warburgians, for your hospitality. Thank you, dear Chris Rossbach and the London Chapter of Atlantik Brücke, for your initiative to have this evening at the Warburg.
Tonight, I have the pleasure of wearing two hats on my head, one as a member of the board of Atlantik-Brücke and the other as a member of the Advisory Council and Trustee of the Warburg Institute, the library of Aby Warburg. Two functions that I have the honor to serve and that are strongly connected to Eric Warburg, who was not only my father-in-law but also the nephew of Aby Warburg.

„Eric Warburg had the rare ability to understand when it was essential in life to act.“

Eric and Aby, both firstborn sons with all the responsibility connected with it in a Jewish family, were also very close. Eric gave the farewell speech at Aby Warburg’s funeral, in which he said, “It was bliss for us as his family to be part of the universe of his ideas.” After Aby’s death, Eric was in charge of the library on behalf of the Warburg family.

Eric Warburg had the rare ability to understand when it was essential in life to act.

In 1933 he recognized the imminent danger the Nazi Regime in Germany posed for the library of Aby Warburg and he played a crucial role in securing the financial and diplomatic support to move the library from Hamburg to London. He understood that this was not just about books and manuscripts but about preserving an entire way of thinking.
His efforts, alongside with Fritz Saxl and Gertrud Bing, ensured the survival of Aby’s library and its transfer to the Warburg Institute and hence to the University of London*.
In 1952 Eric Warburg co-founded Atlantik-Brücke to strengthen the still fragile relationship between Germany and the United States. At a time, when many still viewed Germany with suspicion, Eric Warburg understood that reconciliation and partnership were essential – not just for Germany’s future but for the stability of the Western world.

In its founding phase as well as today, extraordinary personalities have shaped Atlantik-Brücke. Sigmar Gabriel, our chairman and former German vice chancellor and foreign minister, is an important public voice in transatlantic relations; his predecessor at the Atlantik-Brücke was Friedrich Merz, who will soon become our next German chancellor.
Atlantik-Brücke became and remains one of the most important forums for political, economic, and cultural exchange between Germany and the U.S. We connect leaders, business figures, scholars, and policymakers to foster mutual understanding, shape policy, and strengthen democracy on both sides of the Atlantic.

Eric Warburg’s belief in dialogue over division, engagement over isolation, and cooperation over conflict laid the groundwork for the strong transatlantic alliance we were lucky to have for many decades, and which is – unfortunately – challenged today.

How do we deal with our partner on the other side of the Atlantic, who simply bypasses democratic checks and balances?“

Today, Atlantik-Brücke is „a bridge over troubled water“ for those of you who still remember this song by Simon and Garfunkel…

With Donald Trump’s second term in office, Germany and Europe are facing not only significant foreign, security, and economic challenges but also deep divides in our societies in general. How do we deal with our partner on the other side of the Atlantic, who simply bypasses democratic checks and balances and seems to neglect us? We are witnessing a US policy that is „rewriting the rules“. If someone had told me last year that the United States would vote alongside North Korea, Russia, and Belarus in a UN Resolution not condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine – I would have said this is entirely impossible. But they did. This stance is tantamount to fake news.

This leads me to the place where we are meeting today, the Warburg Institute, and to the questions of why Aby Warburg’s thoughts are still relevant today and why they are relevant to members of Atlantik-Brücke.

During the First World War, Aby Warburg, ridden by depression, transformed his home into an observatory for war propaganda, collecting materials he intended to exhibit in a “Museum of Lies.” Aby, deeply interested in the power of images and symbols, was alarmed by how visual propaganda was used to manipulate public perception during the war. His critical stance on war propaganda aligned with his broader intellectual project: analyzing how images influence collective memory, emotion, and belief. He reflected on how institutions could present history in a misleading way, constructing narratives that served ideological rather than factual purposes. One of his central concerns was how propaganda replaced rational discourse with emotional manipulation. Nationalistic posters, patriotic war photography, and sensationalized news reports created a charged atmosphere where public sentiment was shaped not by critical thought but by powerful, often deceptive imagery. He feared that the emotional power of images, if not critically examined, could lead to destructive mass movements—an insight that would later prove chillingly true with the rise of fascism.

Aby Warburg’s observations are still of striking relevance today, where images are weaponized in disinformation campaigns, political propaganda, and social media manipulation. The rapid spread of manipulated photos, deepfake videos, and emotionally charged imagery follows the same principles Aby identified:
decontextualization, emotional appeal, and the use of symbols to shape collective narratives.

Aby’s method involved deep analysis of images rather than passive consumption. In an age of infinite scrolling, we need to learn how to analyze rather than just absorb images. His work serves as a reminder that visual literacy—the ability to critically analyze images and their historical contexts—is more crucial than ever.

If Aby Warburg were alive today, he would likely be studying how digital culture amplifies the very mechanisms of symbolic manipulation he warned about a century ago. He might have argued that the digital world is an even more dangerous “Museum of Lies” than anything he observed in the 20th century. He wouldn’t just be analyzing the afterlife of Renaissance paintings—he’d likely be mapping out Twitter memes, TikTok trends, and AI-generated propaganda as a new Mnemosyne Atlas of 21st-century disinformation. He would warn us about the emotional power of images and their role in mass manipulation. Aby’s insights into propaganda, irrational thought, and visual culture are almost prophetic today.

For those of you who are devastated – like myself – about the current state of the transatlantic relationship we – as European countries – have with the United States, I can assure you that we will continue building bridges in the spirit of the founders of Atlantik-Brücke, while having in mind the concept of Aby Warburg’s Museum of Lies.

*As an interesting side note: the personal contributions of Sir Samuel Courtauld, founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art (established in 1932), and his first director, William Constable, were also pivotal in the successful relocation and reestablishment of the Warburg Institute in London in 1934. Anthony Blunt, the later director of the Courtauld Institute (1947-1974), helped to integrate Warburgian ideas into British academic curricula. He was also a Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures and responsible for the Royal Collection. Anthony Blunt became also rather famous for being a Soviet spy, passing information to the Soviets during his time at MI5. He was one of the infamous Cambridge Five, a group of British Soviet spies recruited while studying at the University of Cambridge in the 1930s who worked for the Soviet Union (the others were Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, and John Cairncross).

Speech of Dr. Nagila Warburg at The Warburg Insitute in London / Atlantik-Brücke event on March, 5 – 2025. Dr. Warburg is a board member of Atlantik-Brücke.