Welcome to the LBI London
The Leo Baeck Institute London is devoted to the study of German-Jewish history and culture. The LBI is an independent charity and aims to preserve and research this history by organizing innovative research projects, Fellowship programmes, and public events. Through the lens of German-Jewish history, the Institute seeks to address some of the most topical and timely questions of our times.
News
LBI Film Club
The Essential Link: The Story of Wilfrid Israel
‘The Essential Link: The Story of Wilfrid Israel’ (2016)
Welcome to another screening at the LBI Film Club! Our latest offering is part of an online celebration on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Wilfrid Israel Museum in the Kibbuz HaZorea, in collaboration with the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem, the Goethe Institute Israel, the Stiftung Warburg Archiv Hamburg and the Institut für die Geschichte der Deutschen Juden Hamburg. We hope that you will continue to enjoy our selection of interesting and thought-provoking films linked to the immensely diverse, rich and multi-faceted Jewish experience.
The LBI Film Club’s sixth offering is:
The Essential Link: The Story of Wilfrid Israel (Israel, 2016)
The film tells the remarkable story of Wilfrid Israel – a wealthy Jewish businessman and owner of Berlin’s largest department store in the 1930’s, who was involved in the saving of tens of thousands of Jews and played a key role in the Kindertransport operation. Israel was a member of one of Germany’s most prominent Jewish families and acquainted with some of the most influential figures of the 20th century, yet little is known about his personal life and heroic endeavours. Why did his story remain untold? What was there to hide?
Further LBI Film Club screenings will be announced via our LBI website, Facebook page (Leo Baeck Institute London), Instagram (@leobaeckinstitutelondon), and Twitter (@lbi_london) in the future. Please keep checking!
Online Panel – Philanthropist, Rescuer, Collector: Remembering Wilfrid Israel
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Wilfrid Israel Museum in the Kibbuz HaZorea, we would like to warmly invite you to an online panel discussion commemorating the enigmatic philanthropist Wilfrid Israel, an internationally renowned and well connected Jewish businessman who was significantly involved in the rescue of Jews from Nazi Germany after the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass):
Philanthropist, Rescuer, Collector: Remembering Wilfrid Israel
A conversation with the filmmaker Yonatan Nir (The Essential Link), Naomi Shepherd (Author of the book Wilfrid Israel. German Jewry’s Secret Ambassador) and Dorothea Hauser (Stiftung Warburg Archiv).
The event will take place via zoom on the 17th of June 2021 at 6:30 pm (London Time).
Further information about the event and how to register can be found here.
LBI Film Club: ‘The Essential Link’ (Yonatan Nir, IL 2016)
You will have a chance to watch Yonatan Nir’s documentary film The Essential Link ahead of the event in our next LBI London Film Club. To watch the film free of charge between 12th and 19th of June 2021 please click here. A separate invitation to this screening will follow next week.
This tribute event is hosted by the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem in collaboration with the Goethe Institute Israel, the Stiftung Warburg Archiv Hamburg, Institut für die Geschichte der Deutschen Juden Hamburg and the Leo Baeck Institute London.
Eighth ‘Snapshot of German-Jewish History and Culture’
Cover ‘Jüdischer Jugendkalender’ (1934) designed by Kurt Arndt (aged 17)
Our eighth ‘Snapshot of German-Jewish History and Culture’ is now online. Please click here to view the full post: A Compass for a German-Jewish Childhood: Emil Bernhard Cohn’s Jüdischer Jugendkalender 1934 (Almanac for Jewish Youth).
This Snapshot offers a glimpse into the world of German-Jewish children’s literature in 1920s and 30s Germany by looking at the directional, innovative and visually beautiful Jüdischer Jugendkalender (Almanac for Jewish Youth). Compiled and much contributed to by the energetic scholar, author, playwright and rabbi Emil Bernhard Cohn, the series was published from 1928-36 and reflected the changing fate of German Jews during this time.
The ‘Snapshots’, which attempt to give you an insight into interesting items from our London institute’s collection of rare books and historical pamphlets and which illustrate many facets of the history and culture of Europe’s German speaking Jewry, are also available on our social media outlets such as:
Our Facebook page (Leo Baeck Institute London), Instagram (@leobaeckinstitutelondon),
and Twitter (@lbi_london).