 | |
 The Leo Baeck Institute in theCenter for Jewish History onWest 16th Street in Manhattan | |
  Location within New York City | |
| Established | 1955; 70 years ago (1955) |
|---|---|
| Location | 15West 16th Street New York City,New York |
| Coordinates | 40°44′17″N73°59′38″W / 40.738056°N 73.993889°W /40.738056; -73.993889 |
| Type | Research institute |
| Executive director | Dr. William Weitzer |
| President | David G. Marwell[1] |
| Historian | Dr. Frank Mecklenburg[2] |
| Public transit access | Subway: 14th Street – Union Square |
| Website | www |
TheLeo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is aresearch institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking Jewish émigrés at a conference inJerusalem in 1955. The other Leo Baeck institutes areLeo Baeck Institute Jerusalem andLeo Baeck Institute London, and the activities of all three are coordinated by the board of directors of theLeo Baeck Institute. It is also a founding partner of theCenter for Jewish History, and maintains a research library and archive in New York City that contains a significant collection of source material relating to the history of German-speaking Jewry, from its origins tothe Holocaust, and continuing to the present day.[3] TheLeo Baeck Medal has been awarded by the institute since 1978 to those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy.[4]
The Leo Baeck Institute New York is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking Jewish émigrés at a conference inJerusalem in 1955. The other Leo Baeck institutes areLeo Baeck Institute Jerusalem andLeo Baeck Institute London, and the activities of all three are coordinated by the board of directors of theLeo Baeck Institute.[5]: 38–45
Under its first executive director, Max Kreutzberger, Leo Baeck Institute New York established itself as the institute's library and archive. The library collection began with books that had been looted from Jewish libraries and collectors, and were recovered byAllied forces in World War II and restituted to Jewish libraries. Later in the 1950s, Kreutzberger and his staff began acquiring books and manuscripts from New York booksellers, and solicited donations of the personal papers and libraries ofGerman-Jewish émigrés in New York. By 1960, when Leo Baeck Institute New York moved into a townhouse at 129 East 73rd Street on theUpper East Side inManhattan, the collection included some 30,000 books, 250 unpublished memoirs, and extensive archives.[5]: 142
Significant private donations secured in the first two decades of the Leo Baeck Institute's existence included the literary estates of German philosopherConstantin Brunner, Austro-Hungarian novelist and theatre criticFritz Mauthner, German theologian and philosopherFranz Rosenzweig, and Austrian journalist and novelistJoseph Roth.[5]: 151
By the 1990s, Leo Baeck Institute New York's Upper East Side townhouse could no longer efficiently or safely accommodate its collections, and LBI presidentIsmar Schorsch began discussions with other Jewish centers of scholarly research in New York aimed at a partnership in a shared facility. In 1993, Leo Baeck Institute,YIVO Institute for Jewish Research,Yeshiva University Museum, and theAmerican Jewish Historical Society announced plans to jointly establish theCenter for Jewish History in the formerAmerican Foundation for the Blind building onWest 16th Street in Manhattan.[6] Leo Baeck Institute New York moved its administrative offices and collections to the Center for Jewish History in 2000.[7]
Today, Leo Baeck Institute shares library infrastructure (storage, reading room, digital and conservation labs, and information systems) as well as programming and exhibition facilities with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Yeshiva University Museum, American Jewish Historical Society, andAmerican Sephardi Federation.[8]
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In the 1990s, Leo Baeck Institute New York deepened its ties with theFederal Republic of Germany, and received increased financial support from theWest German government and private sources in Germany such as publisherAxel Springer.[5]: 144–147
Preliminary discussions about an official presence of Leo Baeck Institute New York in Germany began by the 1970s at the latest,[5]: 163 and concrete plans for such a presence were initiated by German-born AmericanMichael Blumenthal proposing that the Leo Baeck Institute establish a presence at the newJewish Museum Berlin in 1998. In late 1999, the board of LBI International reached an agreement with the Jewish Museum Berlin to establish an office in the museum, and house microfilm copies of the Leo Baeck Institute archives there in order to provide easier access to the collections for researchers in Europe. In 2013, Leo Baeck Institute established an administrative office in Berlin.[9]
The Leo Baeck Institute New York includes a library, an archive, an art collection, and an exhibition centre. Its offices and collections are housed in theCenter for Jewish History, a centralized partnership with other Jewish organizations that share one location, with separate governing bodies and finances, but collocate resources. in New York City.[6]
The bulk of Leo Baeck Institute New York's archives are the personal papers of German-speaking Jews. The library contains over 80,000 volumes.
In October 2012, Leo Baeck Institute New York announced that it had digitized nearly its entire archival holdings and a large portion of its art collections and rare books as part of the DigiBaeck[12] project.[13] The DigiBaeck digital collection portal includes nearly 75% of the Leo Baeck Institute's holdings, including archival materials, memoirs and manuscripts, art and objects, books and periodicals, photographs, and audio recordings.
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In addition to the archival processes of acquiring, cataloguing, and preserving, Leo Baeck Institute New York promotes study by sponsoring several fellowships for scholars working the field of German-Jewish history, holding seminars, and creating exhibits.
Leo Baeck Institute New York also annually awards theLeo Baeck Medal to individuals whose humanitarian work promotes tolerance, social justice and upon those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy.[4] It is the highest recognition the institute bestows.[4]
Some past recipients include German ChancellorAngela Merkel, German AmbassadorWolfgang Ischinger, businessman and journalistMathias Dopfner, economist and former president of the World BankJames D. Wolfensohn, German Minister of the InteriorOtto Schily, sex therapist talk show host and Holocaust survivor Dr.Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth), German PresidentJohannes Rau, and business leader, economist, and political adviserW. Michael Blumenthal.[18]
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