Leo Baeck Institute London

A recent interview with LBI International President Michael Brenner in the Jüdische Allgemeine – Germany’s leading Jewish newspaper – comes at a time of heightened global uncertainty and renewed debate over the role of scholarship in society. Brenner, a historian recognised as a ‘guardian of Jewish history’, has long argued that research and memory are not ends in themselves but essential tools for engaging with the most pressing issues of our time.

LBI London is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Alice Riegler as Programme and Development Officer.

In a recent interview with Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper, Michael Brenner, President of the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) International, called on Germany to remember not just the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the vibrant Jewish life that was lost. “We must not forget what was destroyed,” he urged, stressing the importance of confronting the legacy of the Holocaust through a deeper engagement with German-Jewish history.

Brenner, a leading expert on German-Jewish history, warned against selective memory, and emphasised the rich cultural and intellectual contributions of German Jews before the Nazis came to power.

The Leo Baeck Institute London is delighted to announce that Daniel Lichman will join us this September as the first holder of our new PhD Scholarship.

Daniel brings a unique blend of academic and rabbinic experience. He studied history at Nottingham University and trained for the rabbinate at Leo Baeck College. Since then, he has worked as a university chaplain and was the founding rabbi of Makor Hayim, a progressive synagogue in Willesden Green.

Daniel will be pursuing his PhD at Birkbeck, University of London, under the joint supervision of Birkbeck and the LBI London.

LBI London is pleased to announce that we have joined the Knowledge Quarter (KQ), an internationally recognised innovation district at the heart of Central London.

The Knowledge Quarter is a partnership of leading academic, cultural, scientific, and media institutions clustered within a one-mile radius around King’s Cross, Euston Road, and Bloomsbury.

Today we remember the life and legacy of Leo Baeck (1873–1956), one of the most important German-Jewish thinkers and leaders of the 20th century.

A rabbi, philosopher, and public intellectual, Baeck was a leading figure in Liberal Judaism and a tireless advocate for Jewish education and ethical responsibility. In 1933, following Hitler’s rise to power, he became president of the Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden, the umbrella organisation representing Jewish communities in Nazi Germany. He remained in Germany throughout the war, was deported to Theresienstadt in 1943, and survived the Holocaust.

What does it mean to find a ‘piece of home’ in an archive? A new article in the Jüdische Allgemeine, Germany’s official Jewish newspaper, explores how personal stories and documents preserved at the Leo Baeck Institute continue to offer connection, memory, and meaning for families and researchers alike. 

Through moving examples, such as the artistic legacy of Holocaust survivor Yehuda Bacon and the wartime correspondence of Werner T. Angress, the article illustrates how the LBI’s ever-growing collections remain a living resource for understanding the past and shaping identity today.

We are pleased to present a new digital flipbook of Lina Morgenstern’s historic Illustrated Cookbook (1907) – a culinary artefact that helped shape Berlin’s social landscape in the early 20th century.

The digitised copy comes from the holdings of the Leo Baeck Institute New York and is reproduced here with their kind permission.

A new travelling exhibition featuring the LBI’s Library of Lost Books project has arrived in Dortmund, shining a spotlight on football’s entanglement with the National Socialist regime and inviting visitors to reflect on the importance of remembrance 80 years after the end of the Second World War.

The exhibition, titled Gedenkanstoß – denk Erinnerung weiter (“Kick-off for Remembrance – Take Memory Further”), is on display at the Deutsches Fußballmuseum until 19 May. Organised by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ), the project aims to make the lessons of the past relevant to new generations by connecting them to the world of football.