The End of an Era
When the German rabbi Leo Baeck was released from the concentration camp Theresienstadt on May 8, 1945, the day the war ended, he no longer believed in a future for Jewish people in Germany. Who wanted to live in the country that had planned to eradicate German Judaism and murder millions? "The era of the Jews in Germany," said Baeck at the time, "is more than over for everyone." This assessment was shared by most survivors at that time.
Preserving German-Jewish Cultural Heritage
But what would become of centuries of German Jewish culture? Who would remember the music of Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Arnold Schönberg, the literature by Joseph Roth, Franz Kafka, Alfred Döblin or Lasker-Gurzen? Even in the years of persecution, the preservation of German-Jewish cultural heritage was part of the resistance. After 1945, when the full extent of the Holocaust was visible, this task seemed all the more urgent. "The memory was also a resistance to forgetting against deletion," said Israeli-Austrian historian Doron Rabinovici.
The Leo Baeck Institute
In 1955, ten years after World War II ended, a group of German-speaking Jewish individuals, including philosopher Hannah Arendt and historian Gershom Scholem, founded the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) "to show what the Nazis had destroyed." The institute would celebrate "cultural achievements, but also the everyday life of the German Jews." The LBI was named after Rabbi Leo Baeck, the "great religious and spiritual bright light of liberal German Judaism." Baeck became the first president, but died in 1956, one year after the institute was founded.
Research Institute for Promoting German-Jewish Heritage
What made the LBI special from the start was its collection of historical objects, which mainly came from Jewish refugees or their descendants: books, letters, photos, and works of art. Today, the LBI is the most important research institute for the legacy of German Judaism. The majority of the LBI collections were digitized and made accessible online, with scholars and descendants of Jewish survivors comprising the service worldwide more than 3.5 million pages. An annual yearbook is also published, events are organized, and young people in science are supported.
New Projects and Threats
The LBI has existed for over 65 years, and its members, especially in the United States, believe that their academic work is threatened. The historian and author Doron Rabinovici also sees another threat from the global rise of right-wing parties. While the renowned research institute celebrates its anniversary, this should not cover the fact that its members, especially in the United States, believe that their academic work is threatened. Rabinovici warns that "resonating Jewish existence" is only possible in an open society in which anti-Semitism is combated.
Conclusion
In Germany, the anniversary of the Leo Baeck Institute is celebrated with a ceremony. The speakers of this event include the LBI President and Rabinovici. The LBI tries to keep interest in the German-Jewish cultural heritage with new projects, including the "Exile" podcast, which tells stories of people whose life was shaped by exile, flight, or persecution. The podcast is aimed at a younger audience and is based on letters, diaries, and interviews from the LBI archive.
