Leo Baeck Institute London

Through our Meet the Fellows series, we introduce the researchers in our fellowship programme and the questions that shape their work. In this interview we speak with Cyra Sommer whose doctoral project traces “translocal memory networks” linking former German Jews in Israel with German society after 1945, focusing on contacts and collaborations in what later came to be known as memory culture. Her research explores how German-Jewish history became an object of negotiation between individuals and across borders, and how these relationships evolved from the early 1960s to the 1990s

Can you briefly describe your doctoral research project for a non-specialist audience?

Be a part of Limmud Festival’s PhD engagement programme, created to build a cohort of emerging academics in the field of Jewish studies across the UK, bridging the gap between Jewish academic and community life, and promoting opportunities for networking and mentoring. 

20 June is World Refugee Day, designated by the United Nations to honour the resilience and courage of people forced to flee their homes.

The history of German-speaking Jews is, in large part, a history of refuge and displacement. From the mass emigration that followed 1933 to the desperate flight of those who sought safety in Britain, Palestine, the United States, and beyond, the experience of being a refugee is woven through the archives held at LBI London.

The Leo Baeck Institute London is saddened to learn of the passing of Carlo Ginzburg, the renowned Italian historian and champion of ‘microhistorical’ methodologies, who delivered the Gerhard Riegner Memorial Lecture in LBI London’s 2004/05 lecture series in partnership with the Wiener Holocaust Library and the Centre for German-Jewish Studies at Sussex University.

12 June marks the anniversary of the birth of Anne Frank, who was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1929 and would have turned 97 this year.

Her diary, written in hiding between 1942 and 1944, remains one of the most significant personal documents to emerge from the Holocaust. It continues to be read and studied worldwide as a primary account of Jewish life under Nazi persecution.

Earlier this year, Tatiana Martin joined LBI London as an intern, bringing a strong background in Modern and Medieval Languages and a deep interest in historical memory in twentieth-century Europe. During her placement, she interviewed a guest for our podcast, carried out translation and digital media work, reviewed past lectures for YouTube, updated the Year Book pages on the website, and conducted provenance research using DigiBaeck.

On 25 May 1955, a group of German-Jewish intellectuals met in Jerusalem to establish the Leo Baeck Institute. Among them were Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem and Siegfried Moses. They set out to preserve the history and legacy of a community that had been disrupted under National Socialism.

They saw themselves as the last generation able to shape this history from living memory. Named in honour of Leo Baeck, the Institute was intended as a bridge to future generations. Its purpose was clear: to support serious research and to record the past without apology or nostalgia.

Through our Meet the Fellows series, we introduce the researchers in our fellowship programme and the questions that shape their work. In this interview we speak with Alexander Walther whose doctoral project explored discourse about the Holocaust in East Germany and shows how Holocaust survivors from early on were actively involved in the commemoration of the Holocaust in the GDR and how they negotiated their identity in its wake.

Can you briefly describe your doctoral research project for a non-specialist audience?