New Library Acquisitions

Blanka is a child when she was persecuted by the Nazi's and deported with her family in 1944. After seven terrible weeks in Auschwitz, she was selected for forced labor. At the Hessisch Lichtenau explosives factory, she is forced to fill bombs and shells with her older sister Aranka. When the two girls return to Hungary after the war, they learn that they lost not only their home but also their parents in the Holocaust. View Catalog record.

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Martin Buber Werkausgabe — In addition to the two extensive book publications "Moses" and "The Faith of the Prophets", the "Writings on the Biblical Religion" presented here include many other essays and articles by Martin Buber on the content-related examination of biblical topics, including "Genesis Problems", "The Election of Israel", "The Story of Abraham", "The Man of Moses" and "False Prophets". In addition, some materials from the Martin Buber Archive in Jerusalem will be published that were previously unknown to the public. View Catalog Record

Form and Light — The fragment is an essential part of a structure that carries within it the genetic code of the whole. Yigal Gawze’s photographs distill the essence of the Bauhaus through one aspect of the school’s wider impacts, capturing the abstraction, simplicity, and optimism of early modernism in the city of Tel Aviv. Concentrating on the subtle effects of natural light on architecture, Gawze highlights the encounter between a building style originating in Europe and the glare of the Mediterranean. His images culminate in a portrait of place, revealing the poetic essence of the White City’s architecture and the role light takes in shaping it. View Catalog Record

"I had a great life," says Arthur Kern, referring to his childhood in Vienna - until the moment in 1939, when he was just ten years old and suddenly separated from his family. Hoping to save him from the Holocaust, his Jewish parents send him abroad with the kindertransport - a traumatic experience for the ten-year-old. Although he can save himself via France to America, he will never see his family again. 60 years later: Arthur meets eleven-year-old Lilly Maier on a visit to his childhood apartment in Vienna. A fateful encounter for both, which not only shapes Lilly's future life, but also leads to Arthur receiving a late legacy from his parents ... View Catalog Record

This new volume in the Critical Complete Edition contains the first book Hannah Arendt wrote to the German public in 1948. It was not until 1976, half a year after Arendt's death, that this important book could be published again. In addition to the original German versions of the essays, this volume presents the English versions that had appeared in various journals since 1943. They established Arendt's fame as an essayist on both sides of the Atlantic. View Catalog Record

Early memories of survivors of the Shoah and National Socialist persecution have only recently been rediscovered and researched. For many years, a collection of sources from the International Tracing Service (ITS) with questionnaires where around 1000 survivors testified was virtually unknown to academics and the public. This volume presents the documents, their origins and the diversity of voices of survivors. View Catalog Record

zuhause in Duesseldorf.jpg — From the new beginning after the Shoa until today: The Chanukka chandelier symbolizes a new beginning. There was also a very special beginning in September 1945, when a few survivors of the Shoa came together at the Jewish New Year celebration Rosh ha-Schana to found the new Jewish community of Düsseldorf. In the meantime, Jewish life in Düsseldorf has become very multifaceted and has a special influence on Düsseldorf's city society. Accompanied by numerous photos, interviews and a chronicle, this book traces the path of one of the largest Jewish communities in Germany and its success story - over seven decades.

Fremdgemacht reorientiert.jpg — The bogeyman of Islamization is haunting us. "Germany" and "Europe" are afraid of "the Muslim unwilling to integrate". At the same time, "the Jew" still today turns out to be a stubborn enemy. Scientists*, activists* and artists* take " western " narratives as a starting point in order to trace the political, religious, historical and contemporary Jewish-Muslim connections. They are irritated by the fairy tale of the Christian-Jewish West, ask questions about the interactions between anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim racism, discuss complex relationships and focus on their respective experiences. They point out perspectives that are not heard in many parts of society. They report on inequalities, collective memories and narratives, on utopias and resistance

As a Bavarian-Jewish official predicted the Holocaust, Siegfried Lichtenstaedter (1865-1942) wrote satires and predictions that are so astoundingly clairvoyant that the historian Götz Aly dug them up and put them together anew, observing them closely and with Jewish wit. In three accompanying essays, Götz Aly also describes Lichtenstaedter's life and shows how topical these texts on anti-Semitism, genocide and hatred are again today.

Elie Wiesel, born 1928-2016, ninety years ago, is one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. Born the son of pious Jewish grocers in the Carpathians (then Hungary), he was deported to Auschwitz at the age of 16 - and survived the death camp. It was his life's work to snatch the silent voices of the victims from oblivion and to confront inhumanity where they meet today.

While Elazar Benyoëtz's 'Poetry and Truth' is little, his aphoristically lyrical work placed on his side 'West-Eastern Divan', in which he gives an account of three thousand years. Elazar Benyoëtz's "Insights" also apply here: "Small arks of rescued words on the never-ending flood of information.".

SALIS_Kästner_JewishRoulette_Cover_web.jpg — Jewish identity doesn't exist. There are countless gradations of how to be Jewish. Shelley Kästner's interview book "Jewish Roulette" shows the many facets of the inherited, assumed or lost affiliation to Judaism and ranges from the Jewish archbishop to the atheistic Orthodox.

The LBI Library collects publications related to the history and culture of German-speaking Jews as outlined in its Collection Development Policy. A rotating selection of recent highlights from among our new acquisitions are featured on this website, as well as a link to a comprehensive list of new acquisitions in our catalog.

Books from the LBI Library Collection can be used onsite in the reading room at the Center for Jewish History during our reading room opening hours.

Books can be requested during a reading room visit by consulting our online catalog and placing requests onsite (average it takes about 20-30 minutes to retrieve books from the stacks). Please visit libraryservices.cjh.org/aeon to create your personal research account if you want to place requests in advance.