Cultural influence can be subtle, pervasive, fleeting or lasting, but it is not easily quantifiable. There are however, many areas where the impact of German ideas, development, or artists is widespread and obvious, attracting adherents and imitators throughout the continent. In science, music, literature and publishing, for example, what began as "German" quickly become "European", and eventually "modern". Many of the innovators were products of German history, language, geography and education. Many were also Jewish.

The representations on this website are suggestive of the rich and diverse German heritage that is European cultural history. The library and archives of Leo Baeck Institute are filled with books, memoirs, photos, periodicals, artifacts and documents that can be mined for intellectual, social, political and religious history that changed the world, sometimes incrementally, sometimes dramatically, often for the better. As Ames Elon noted in the acknowledgements in his great book The Pity of It All, "going through the treasures (of the Leo Baeck Institute) one feels like an archaeologist sifting through the sands of a now-lost secular civilization".

The impact of this secular civilization continues to inform our lives, both in Europe and America, where the cultural heritage is transformed daily by the new sensibilities of the 21st century.