About the LBI

The Leo Baeck Institute is devoted to studying the history of German-speaking Jewry from its origins to its tragic destruction by the Nazis and to preserving its culture. Dating back almost 2000 years, when Jews first settled along the Rhine, the Jewish communities of Germany, Austria, and other German-speaking areas of Europe had a history marked by individual as well as collective accomplishments in communal organization and welfare, commerce, industry and politics, the arts and sciences, and in literature, philosophy and theology. To appreciate the impact of German-speaking Jewry in modern times, one need only recall such names as Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Franz Kafka, and Karl Marx.

Founded in 1955, the LBI was named for the rabbi who was the leader of German Jewry during its darkest years. Rabbi Baeck, who survived the concentration camp of Theresienstadt, became the first international president of the institute. The Institute works through three centers, in Jerusalem, London, and New York, as well as the offices of the Freunde und Foerderer des Leo Baeck Instituts in Frankfurt and the Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft des Leo Baeck Instituts in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

Leo Baeck, 1873-1956

All three centers regularly hold local and international conferences on a large variety of themes. In addition, the LBI, London, publishes the yearbook and maintains inter-alia contact with European scholars. The LBI, Jerusalem, is responsible for the publication of the Juedischer Almanach and books in Hebrew and German and maintains a small archives.

The LBI, New York, has recently opened a research branch in Germany at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Researchers in Berlin may use all of the LBI Archives's microfilms and the photograph database. Anyone wishing to visit the LBI, Berlin, must first contact the archivist there, Mr. Aubrey Pomerance, at the address below.

More information about the Leo Baeck Institute International is available here.

More information on the archives, the library, the art collection, the photograph collection, the family research program, and the Austrian Heritage Collection is available through the links on the menu.