Founded in May 1955 in Jerusalem by German-Jewish intellectuals who had survived the Holocaust the Leo Baeck Institute of Jews from Germany (LBI) has been engaged in preserving the legacy of German Jewry by collecting material, doing research, and presenting historical narratives. Published on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its founding, the present volume is the first to reconstruct the LBI's fascinating history.
Founded in May 1955 in Jerusalem by German-Jewish intellectuals who had survived the Holocaust - among them Martin Buber, Ernst Simon, Gershom Scholem, and Robert Weltsch - the Leo Baeck Institute of Jews from Germany (LBI) has been engaged in preserving the legacy of German Jewry by collecting material, doing research, and presenting historical narratives. With its working centers in New York, London and Jerusalem (supplemented since 1989 with the
Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft in Germany), the LBI has made German-Jewish studies a prominent field of research that has attracted scholars and the general public well beyond the original circle of German-speaking Jewish émigrés.
Published on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its founding, the present volume is the first to reconstruct the LBI's fascinating history, from its beginnings as a memorial community of surviving German Jews to its present status as an internationally renowned research institute. The authors are social and cultural historians from various countries, the majority of whom are not directly affiliated with the LBI.
Table of contents:
Foreword by
Michael A. Meyer -
Christhard Hoffmann: Introduction -
Christhard Hoffmann: The Founding of the Leo Baeck Institute, 1945-1955 -
Ruth Nattermann: Diversity within Unity: The Community of Founders -
Guy Miron: From Memorial Community to Research Center: The Leo Baeck Institute in Jerusalem - Mitchell B. Hart: »Here it is, to an Astounding Degree, Saved«: The Leo Baeck Institute in New York , 1956-2000 -
Nils Roemer: The Making of a New Discipline: The London LBI and the Writing of the German-Jewish Past -
Stefanie Schüler-Springorum: The »German Question«: The Leo Baeck Institute in Germany -
Aubrey Pomerance: Coordination, Confrontation and Co-operation: The International Board of the Leo Baeck Institute -
Miriam Gebhardt: The Lost World of German Jewry: Collecting, Preserving and Reading Memories -
Christhard Hoffmann: An International Forum of German-Jewish Studies: The Year Book of the Leo Baeck Institute -
Christian Wiese: A Master Narrative? The Gesamtgeschichte of German Jewry in Historical Context -
Till van Rahden: Treason, Fate, or Blessing? Narratives of Assimilation in the Historiography of German-Speaking Jewry since the 1950s -
Jürgen Matthäus: Between Fragmented Memory and »Real History«: The LBI's Perception of Jewish Self-Defence against Nazi Antisemitism, 1955-1970 -
Andreas Kilcher: Grandeur and Collapse of the German-Jewish Symbiosis: Hans Tramer and the Jewish Literary Criticism of the Leo Baeck Institute -
Robert Liberles: Looking Forward: a Global Research Community as the Cornerstone of the LBI Program
