Preserving the Legacy of German Jewry : A History of the Leo Baeck Institute, 1955-2005

Abstract

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.