The LBI London Pamphlet Collection, containing just over 2400 items, is a treasure trove of German-Jewish History and Culture. Items cover a wide range of subjects in an equally wide range of languages. Besides German and English, Hebrew and several other languages are represented, thus reflecting the transnational character of German-Jewish History and Culture.
The earliest publication, a pamphlet by Heinrich Heine, dates from 1837 whilst the majority of the other items were published between 1917 and 1939. A second important period spans from ca. 1950 through to the 1980’s.
Because of the breadth of the information on offer, the collection should prove valuable to a broad spectrum of users.
The following list is intended to highlight some of the more substantial subject areas:
Journals and Newsletters
The collection holds institutional information materials such as the LBI Newsletter, LBI Library and Archive News and Germania Judaica.
Historical periodicals
The collection holds a number of historical periodicals from the early 20th Century such as Neue Jüdische Monatshefte (1917-1919) or Der Junge Jude (1928-1930).
Material on leading figures in German-Jewish History and Culture
The collection includes a wide range of materials on the LBI London’s past directors Robert Weltsch and Dr. Arnold Paucker. Other prominent figures featured here include: Martin Buber, Theodor Herzl, Rosa Luxemburg, Moses Mendelssohn and Walther Rathenau, to mention just a few.
The Zionist Movement in Germany and leaflets about Mandate-Palestine
There is a large body of information on the early history of the Zionist Movement in Germany including aims and objectives, fund raising efforts, conference proceedings and material regarding the Balfour Declaration. Newsletters and other pamphlets, often illustrated, report on crucial tasks such as developing a basic infrastructure, housing, agriculture and key industries in Mandate-Palestine.
German-Jewish Literature
The collection offers a wide range of literary texts such as essays, novellas, poetry, plays, short traditional tales and children’s stories. It also contains portraits of writers, discussions on linguistics and also a few in-depth biographies.
Biographies
A number of pamphlets engage with the life of German-Jewish scientists, scholars, politicians, authors and artists. Furthermore, we hold the 31 volumes of Salomon Wininger’s Grosse Jüdische Nationalbiographie with over 9000 entries on Jewish personae. The Grosse Jüdische Nationalbiographie was published in the 1920’s.
Antisemitic Propaganda
The collection holds a range of antisemitic pamphlets that were collected with the intent to document Nazi propaganda aimed against the Jews. We also hold testimonies of German-Jewish responses to politics of discrimination and persecution; there are a number of Jewish pamphlets countering the NSDAP’s accusations and advocating resistance.
Publications regarding the Holocaust
This section comprises publications published by different memorial sites and a wealth of material regarding the so called “Kristallnacht” (Night of the broken glass). In addition survivors tell their life stories in a number of unpublished manuscripts and published memoirs. There are also family histories, some researched by private individuals, others by secondary schools.
Portraits of Jewish Communities in Europe
There is an array of articles and research on Jewish communities in German speaking areas, such as in Fürth, Frankfurt, Berlin, Trier, Würzburg, Werl, Malchow, Danzig and many more.
The collection also holds a number of published address books with personal details of German-Jewish refugees after 1933 across the world that might be of interest for academic purposes.
The collection is made available to view by Queen Mary University of London Archives and Special Collections and details of how to arrange a visit are available through their website https://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/archives/. A full list of the pamphlets is available on request from archives@qmul.ac.uk.