Paret, Peter

The Leo Baeck Institute was founded by representative organizations of Jews from Germany for the purpose of collecting material on and sponsoring research into the history of the Jewish community in Germany and in other German-speaking countries from the Emancipation to its dispersion. The Institute is named in honor of the man who was the last representative figure of German Jewry in Germany during the Nazi period. The Leo Baeck Memorial Lecture is an annual event at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, when esteemed academics and scholars talk about various aspects of the German-Jewish experience and history, as well as to other, related topics.

Materials found in this collection include an extensive amount of correspondence written by Max Liebermann to Max Lehrs, an art historian and the director of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin and Dresden. The letters were written between 1892 and 1934, mostly from Berlin and Wannsee. Prominent events of the time such as World War I, the revolutionary years after the war, German inflation and the rise of National Socialism are reflected in the correspondence. Liebermann also discusses art questions, exhibits and publications. All the letters are bound in an album. In addition, there are letters to Bruno and Paul Cassirer and letters on Liebermann's election as president of the Preussische Akademie der Kuenste.