Leo Baeck Institute London

12/06/2026

12 June marks the anniversary of the birth of Anne Frank, who was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1929 and would have turned 97 this year.

Her diary, written in hiding between 1942 and 1944, remains one of the most significant personal documents to emerge from the Holocaust. It continues to be read and studied worldwide as a primary account of Jewish life under N**i persecution.

Among the holdings of the LBI London Library, now at Senate House, is this copy of Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank, the German edition. Its dedication page tells its own story: inscribed on 2 May 1974 and presented to Robert Weltsch, one of LBI London’s founders and its first director, as ‘a greeting of admiration and solidarity’. The initials of the sender read L.S. Can anyone help identify them?

Explore our work: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk

11/06/2026

Book Launch: The Mosse-Women: German-Jewish Life Stories by Elisabeth Wagner
We are delighted to invite you to the online launch of Elisabeth Wagner's new book, The Mosse-Women: German-Jewish Life Stories – exploring the lives of the women behind one of German-Jewish history's most prominent families.

🗓 15 June 2026 | 5:00 – 6:00 PM BST
💻 Zoom only | Free to attend | Held in English

The event will be chaired by Dr. Svenja Bethke (Leo Baeck Institute London), with commentary from Dr. Natalie Naimark-Goldberg (Bar Ilan University) and Dr. Skye Doney (George L. Mosse Program), followed by a response from the author herself.

A joint event organised by the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem in collaboration with Leo Baeck Institute London and New York/Berlin.

🔗 Book your free place: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/events/book-discussion/book-launch-mosse-women-german-jewish-life-stories-elisabeth-wagner

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09/06/2026

9 June marks , designated by to recognise the vital role archives play in preserving the historical record.

At LBI London, our collections form a remarkable repository of the history and culture of German-speaking Jews. Holdings include personal papers, manuscripts, photographs, and communal records – primary sources that underpin scholarly research and keep memory alive across generations.

Archives are not passive stores of the past. They are the foundation upon which history is written, questioned, and understood.

Discover our collections: 👉 https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk

08/06/2026

We are proud to mark the UK’s first nationwide Jewish Culture Month (16 May – 15 June 2026).

Initiated by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, this major new festival brings together more than 100 events across the country, spanning art, history, food, music, and comedy. It offers a timely opportunity to engage with the richness and diversity of British Jewish life.

For the Leo Baeck Institute London, Jewish Culture Month closely reflects our core mission. We are dedicated to the study and preservation of German-speaking Jewish history and culture, and to presenting this heritage in its full depth and complexity. Jewish history is not only a history of persecution, but also one of intellectual creativity, cultural exchange, and lasting contribution.

The histories we preserve are part of a living legacy that has shaped modern cultural life, including here in the UK. This month provides an important moment to reach wider audiences and to highlight how histories of migration, resilience, and creativity continue to inform the present.

Cultural initiatives such as this can foster dialogue, challenge misconceptions, and build connections across communities. We are pleased to stand alongside partners across the UK, including JW3 and the British Library, in supporting this first nationwide celebration.

Explore the full programme and find out how to take part: https://jewishculturemonth.org.uk/

https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/news/2026/05/jewish-culture-month-2026-celebrating-living-heritage

02/06/2026

How do former German Jews in Israel and non‑Jewish Germans negotiate the memory of a shared, fractured past? In our latest Meet the Fellows interview, Cyra Sommer talks about tracing ‘translocal memory networks’ that connected Yekkes in Israel with civil society groups in Germany from the 1960s to the 1990s, and showed how everyday relationships helped shape German‑Jewish memory culture.

Read the full interview on our website: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/news/2026/06/meet-fellows-cyra-sommer

28/05/2026

We’re pleased to share the latest instalment in our Meet the Fellows series, featuring Meyrav Levy.

Meyrav’s research explores medieval Jewish prayer books (mahzorim) and how they shaped rich, multi-sensory and emotional experiences for worshippers in Ashkenazi communities. Her work offers fresh insight into how these remarkable manuscripts were not just read, but seen, heard, and physically engaged with.

Read the full interview to learn more about her research journey and current work in museums:
https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/news/2026/05/meet-leo-baeck-fellows-meyrav-levy-202122-cohort

27/05/2026

We are delighted to share that the LBI London library collection has now arrived at Senate House Library, following its transfer from Mile End Library at Queen Mary University of London last week.

This milestone marks the completion of a project spanning more than two years, made possible through the dedication and collaboration of many colleagues. We are especially grateful to the teams at Senate House Library and Queen Mary for their support throughout the process.

Since LBI London staff relocated from Queen Mary to Bloomsbury in June 2024, it is particularly meaningful to have the library collection close by once again. We hope this new location will make the collection more accessible and enhance its use and impact for researchers and the wider public.

https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/news/2026/05/lbi-london-library-collection-arrives-senate-house-library

27 May 2026 Featured image We are delighted to share that the LBI London library collection has now arrived at Senate House Library, following its transfer from Mile End Library at Queen Mary University of London last week. This milestone marks the completion of a project spanning more than two yea...

26/05/2026

Rabbi Leo Baeck stands at the centre of German-Jewish history, yet his life and thought are often known only in outline. Two recent episodes of the Exile podcast from the LBI New York invite listeners to engage more closely with the person behind the name, following his trajectory from provincial rabbi to moral authority under National Socialism.

Part I: The making of a moral leader
‘The Soft-Spoken Sage’ traces Baeck’s early years from Lissa, where he was born in 1873, through his formation in the Wissenschaft des Judentums tradition, which combined Jewish learning with modern academic methods. The episode highlights his famous response to Adolf von Harnack, The Essence of Judaism, in which Baeck argued that Judaism is a living, ethically oriented faith rather than a mere historical remnant. It then follows his appointment as president of the Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden in the 1930s, showing how he chose to remain in Germany and represent its Jewish community despite escalating persecution and offers of refuge abroad.

Part II: Teaching and responsibility in Theresienstadt
‘The Teacher of Theresienstadt’ focuses on Baeck’s deportation in 1943 and his life in the so‑called ‘model ghetto’. While the camp was used for propaganda, the episode makes clear the reality of hunger, overcrowding and constant fear. Within these conditions, Baeck continued to teach, organising lectures on philosophy, history and theology that offered fellow prisoners intellectual structure and a sense of continuity. The podcast also addresses his role on the Jewish Council in Theresienstadt and the difficult ethical questions that accompanied it, presenting Baeck as a figure trying to maintain responsibility and integrity in the face of extreme constraint.

Listen now:
Episode 31: The Soft-Spoken Sage – https://www.lbi.org/projects/podcast/episode-31/
Episode 32: The Teacher of Theresienstadt – https://www.lbi.org/projects/podcast/episode-32/

https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/news/2026/05/soft-spoken-sage-exploring-life-rabbi-leo-baeck-through-exile-podcast

The Exile podcast is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute New York | Berlin and Antica Productions.

Part 1 of the story of Leo Baeck's journey from small town rabbi to guiding a community through its most dangerous and devastating hour.

23/05/2026

The 23rd of May marks the birth anniversary of Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck, the namesake of our Institute. A scholar, teacher, and leader, Baeck remains a representative figure of moral resilience and intellectual courage within German-Jewish history.

Born in Lissa (now Leszno), Baeck was a descendant of a long rabbinical line and studied at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin. In 1933, as President of the Reichsvertretung der deutschen Juden, he assumed the task of guiding the community through the onset of National Socialism. Although he recognized as early as the spring of 1933 that the "thousand-year history of German Jewry" had reached its conclusion, he refused several opportunities for safe passage to Britain or the United States, vowing to be the "last Jew" to leave Germany.

Following his deportation to Theresienstadt in 1943, Baeck provided social and spiritual care to his fellow inmates. He organised extensive educational programmes, lecturing on philosophy and history to remind prisoners of their individual dignity beyond the transport numbers assigned to them. His actions were guided by the conviction that survival was a religious and ethical obligation: "We Jews know: it is a commandment from God to live".

After liberation, Baeck settled in London and became the first international president of the Leo Baeck Institute, established in 1955 to preserve the legacy he had defended. His belief that the history of German-speaking Jewry made a lasting contribution to human thought remains the core of our work today.

As Baeck wrote in a prayer for his community in 1935: "We bow before God, and we stand upright before man"

https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/news/2026/05/commemorating-leo-baeck-1873-1956

Image: Charcoal Portrait, Leo Baeck, 1953, by Ludwig Meidner (1884-1966) (LBI)

21/05/2026

We are pleased to share our latest Snapshot of German-Jewish History and Culture: The Wait and the Fight: Creation of the Jewish Brigade, 1039-1944, which is now available to read on our website.

The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, or simply the Jewish Brigade, was a national Jewish formation of the British Army during WWII, composed of more than 5,000 Jewish volunteers from the Mandatory Palestine. Its creation followed 5 years of intense lobbying and various attempts by the Jewish community to take part in the war. Ultimately, the Brigade became the first and only military unit representing the Jewish people to fight N**i Germany under a recognized Jewish flag.

Illustrated with photographs from the LBI’s historical Pamphlet Collection, this article by Vlada Malka Pecena traces the story behind the brigade’s formation.

Read online: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/research/snapshots/wait-and-fight-creation-jewish-brigade-1939-1944

Our Snapshots series highlights rare books, pamphlets, and personal documents from the LBI collections and other relevant archives, offering unique insights into the rich tapestry of German-speaking Jewish life and culture.