Leo Baeck Institute London

We’re excited to launch our new interview series: ‘Civil Engagement and Democracy in German History: Jewish Experiences and Perspectives’.

This English-language project is based on Engagement & Demokratie in der jüdisch-deutschen Geschichte, first published by the Freunde und Förderer des Leo Baeck Instituts.

We begin with the remarkable story of Hans Litten – the Berlin lawyer who famously summoned Adolf Hitler to court in 1931. In this interview, historian Knut Bergbauer explores Litten’s political courage, his Jewish youth activism, and his tragic fate under National Socialism.

As the Leo Baeck Institute marks its 70th anniversary, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has published a feature on the Institute’s mission to preserve the cultural achievements and everyday lives of German-speaking Jews.

The article explores the founding vision of the LBI: ‘In 1955, ten years after World War II ended, a group of German-speaking Jewish intellectuals including philosopher Hannah Arendt and historian Gershom Scholem founded the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) “to show what the Nazis had destroyed”, explains Michael Brenner, professor of Jewish history and culture at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.’

Last week, the Leo Baeck Institute London joined over 250 guests at the Jewish Museum Berlin to mark the 70th anniversary of the Leo Baeck Institute. Representing LBI London was Programme and Development Officer Alice Riegler, who attended the event alongside colleagues and friends from the LBI’s international community.

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.