Amateur films from the 1930′s in a handful of LBI collections offer a unique glimpse of various aspects of daily life in Germany. They include footage of vacationers at a Jewish resort outside Berlin, the 1932 German Championship Soccer match, and family vacations to the Alps and even Palestine.
Hundreds of Oral History Interviews are available through DigiBaeck that record the experience of German-Jewish refugees who settled in the United States. They include interviews conducted by the Research Foundation for Jewish Immigration, New York, 1971-1981 as well as interviews conducted by conscientious objectors from Austria who spend a year conducting interviews with former refugees from Austria in lieu of military service.
Leo Baeck Institute will be closed on Monday October 1 and Tuesday October 2 in observance of Sukkot. The staff at LBI wishes a good holiday to all and presents these images of Sukkot from LBI Digital Collections.
Rabbi Sobel is Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanu-El in New York City and a highly regarded scholar.
Leo Baeck Institute is closed on September July 17 and Tuesday September 18 in observance of Rosh Hashanah. The staff at LBI wishes “Shana Tova” to all and presents this slideshow of materials from LBI collections that reflect the changing circumstances under which German-speaking Jewish communities have celebrated Rosh Hashanah over centuries, and the many traditions that remain constant.
Children’s literature digitized by LBI reflects efforts by German-Jewish communities to educate children about Judaism, and even Zionism, an increasingly relevant topic following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Some, like the illustrated “Childrens’ Haggadah” remain enduring favorites today.
DigiBaeck includes a number of rare recordings of Jewish liturgical music from the 1920s. These shellac 78 rpm records are documents of Jewish religious life as well as the history of the recorded sound industry.
Among the artworks in DigiBaeck are many works that attest to the experience of German-speaking Jews under the Nazi regime. These include works secretly created in Theresienstadt by architect Norbert Troller, depictions of refugee and internment camps by Samson Schames, and David L. Bloch’s extensive body of work documenting the Shanghai Ghetto.
Among the many art books in DigiBack are limited edition volumes containing most of the major works of the illustrators E.M. Lilien, Hugo Steiner-Prag, and Hermann Struck.
Exponents of German Expressionism, an early 20th century movement that shaped many other avant garde movements over the course of the century, and artists influenced by it are well-represented in DigiBaeck, from Ludwig Meidner to Peter Lipman-Wulf.
Leo Baeck Institute receives major support from the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. More info...
