World in a nutshell: Lunchtime Talk with Dr Ingeborg Tiemann, civil peace worker and educationalist

In Jerusalem, Beit Moses is home to older people whose roots lie in Europe. They live alongside caregivers from the Far East, many of whom come from precarious social and economic circumstances. Through the close relationships of everyday care, histories of intergenerational loss, profound change and severe uncertainty meet and become intertwined.

Dr Tiemann writes:

My hypothesis is that the cultural differences between the residents and caregivers at Beit Moses offer an exceptional opportunity to explore the hopes and visions of the future embedded in the life stories and circumstances of both groups. 

By connecting past and future, a deeper reflection on intercultural communication at Beit Moses may offer valuable lessons about living together in a multipolar world. This seems particularly relevant at a time when the exclusion of “the other” is becoming increasingly prevalent.

I invite you to think with me about the following questions:

· The intercultural frame: What values for living together in a multipolar world might be uncovered through communication between older people from the West and caregivers from the Far East?

· Death and life: How do the threats of death—experienced personally through ageing and collectively through the dangers facing the region—affect the capacity to remain oriented towards the future?

· The institutional level: Homes for older people necessarily depend upon attending to immediate needs and maintaining daily functioning. What effect does this have on the capacity to develop and sustain longer-term perspectives?

About Dr Ingeborg Tiemann

I have been living and working for 20 years as a Civil Peace Work Expert in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with outreach to other places in the region, including Cairo and Amman. 

From 2005 till 2010 I was Visiting Assistant Professor at Bethlehem University for Development Work. From 2011 till 2025, I initiated and coordinated the project “Junior Debating in the Middle East” focusing on Palestinian High Schools, with the Project’s headquarters in Jerusalem.

In Germany I was working in different fields of education and consultancy on life dilemmas and intergenerational life. In parallel, I was a freelance author for German Radio stations on diverse cultural topics. I hold a PhD in Comparative Religious Studies from Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht and a M.A. in Education.

My participation in several International Experimental Working Conferences, organised by PCCA and OFEK, contributed to my belief that psychoanalytic oriented systemic thinking is essential when engaging in the societal field. So did also coaching that I had continuously.

In July 2025, I returned to Germany. Currently I am living in Berlin. 

I am glad to introduce in this Lunchtime Talk my new intercultural and intergenerational project in Jerusalem.

Fun fact

Ingeborg is every day spoiled for choice when looking at her huge selection of beautiful earrings, each of which has a story. She says that in the German language it is more like the agony of choice!