Wiener Library

This collection contains personal documents, manuscripts, published articles, reviews of Eva Reichmann's book Hostages of Civilizations, and books and periodicals from her library.

The collection includes materials related to the professional and personal life of the German-born businessman Fred W. Lessing, in the period following his immigration to the United States in 1942. Approximately half of the collection by extent comprises correspondence and documents pertaining to Lessing's restitution claims, including documentation related to the brickworks and brewery businesses of his father, Willy Lessing, and correspondence in the early postwar years with his father's former bookkeeper, Franz Bütterich, of Bamberg, who had served as a trustee for the firm under the Nazi regime from 1938 to 1943. Other materials relate to Fred Lessing's activities as a member of the board of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York, and as a member of the executive committee of the Wiener Library, London. Also included are materials concerning the history of the Jews of Bamberg, and postwar commemorative activities there; documents and notes pertaining to Lessing's family history; and a relatively small amount of personal correspondence and ephemera, including some pertaining to Lessing's receiving an honorary doctorate at Tel Aviv University.

This collection contains research material and information on the life of Max Kreutzberger, a former Director of the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) in New York. A large portion of this collection consists of copies of documents from archives in Europe, Israel, and the United States. There is also information on the Leo Baeck Institute in general, LBI events, and LBI publications. In addition, the collection holds Max Kreutzberger's correspondence, writings, and some personal papers.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of historian and bibliographer Philip Friedman. These materials include correspondence with individuals and with organizations, newspaper clippings, subject files, manuscripts of works by Friedman and by others, and some of Friedman’s personal documents. These materials relate to Friedman’s work on the histories of various Jewish communities, particularly those in Poland, and his work gathering source documents about the Holocaust.

The file contains various documents pertaining to the activity of the Reich Representation of German Jews (Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden) and comprises ten folders.

The Wiener Library in London is one of the world’s leading and most extensive archives on the Holocaust and Nazi era. Formed in 1933, the Library contains some of the earliest primary sources on National Socialism. The Library’s unique collection includes published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony.