The "Library of Lost Books" is a joint project of the Leo Baeck Institutes in Jerusalem and London and the Friends and Sponsors of the Leo Baeck Institute e.V. For the vernissage, which took place on Thursday, November 21, and the pop-up exhibition that has been set up, it has now cooperated with the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies.
Back in the early 90s, the then student Irene Kaufmann researched the Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums and wrote her master's thesis on the subject. While she had the absolute advantage of being able to interview contemporary witnesses, researchers today benefit from the increased amount of data and improved access to sources.
But of course, it would still be an overwhelming task for individual researchers to find all the books from the university at the time or even begin to research the lives of the people who studied there. This is where the project aims to help. Using a citizen science approach, Kinga Bloch, Deputy Director of the Leo Baeck Institute London, encouraged those present to become book detectives and get started right away. After presenting the history of the School of Jewish Studies, she used the website excerpts to show where books have already been found and how each of us can help to track down more. But there is more to it than that: it is not "just" books that are being searched for and found here - it is a late defiance of the will of the Nazis. Because even if the people, most of whom were murdered by German National Socialists, cannot be brought back themselves, at least the books can be saved and, unlike what the Nazis had in mind, the books not only find a home, at least virtually, but are also made visible worldwide.
In addition to the database and map of the scattered books, the "Library of Lost Books" website includes an interactive online exhibition with background information on the
History of the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin.
Why at our university?
The exhibition "pops up" where books from the Berlin university were and are found/returned or stored. With Philipp Zschommler, who is working on and promoting provenance research at our university, the institutes have been able to gain an experienced and accomplished cooperation partner.
So far, around 5,000 books and manuscripts from the library have been found, mostly in Prague as well as in London, Berlin, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.
The project is funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).
Kinga Bloch's lecture on Youtube
