LBI Opens Exhibition at the Ambassador's Residence in Washington

On June 12, 2025 in Washington DC, outgoing German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis welcomed guests to celebrate the opening of LBI's 8th exhibition in the library of the Ambassador's Residence since 2008. The exhibit presents six extraordinary narratives with a focus on the transatlantic aspects of German-Jewish History. The stories – of immigrants, refugees, and history-makers whose stories are preserved in the LBI archives – have all been featured in LBI's recent public history projects: The Exile podcast and Stolpertexte.

In his remarks, LBI President David Marwell noted that the exhibit represented both a long-standing partnership with the German Foreign Office and a new horizon of LBI's work in our 70th anniversary year. As the last generation that can give testimony to Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust passes on, the LBI has expanded its focus from collecting and preserving documents to telling the stories contained within them.

The exhibit features artefacts from largely unknown figures like Florence Mendheim, whose daring undercover surveillance of American pro-Nazi groups in 1930s New York was the subject of the first episode of Exile, as well as luminaries including Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, and Albert Einstein. Some of the narratives, including those of the artist Peter Lipman-Wulf and the architect Franz Hillinger, were recently explored by prominent German writers including Karosh Taha, Lena Gorelik, and Juli Zeh for LBI's Stolpertexte.

The festive opening was one of of Ambassador Michaelis's last official events in Washington before his retirement. The exhibit will remain on display to the invited guests of the incoming Ambassador, Jens Hanfield, through the end of 2025. The public had a chance to see the exhibit during the annual EU Embassy's Open House on May 10, 2025, which drew some 10,000 visitors.