Leon Zeitlin Collection
Scope and Contents
This bulk of this collection consists of correspondence and manuscripts. Although some of the correspondence is personal in nature, much of it concerns Zeitlin's work as an economic writer and theorist and his advocacy for various human rights causes. Max Horkheimer and Nahum Goldmann are among the many notable correspondence. Other parts of the correspondence concern specific book projects, especially for his Life's value in cash .
Manuscripts form the second large group of materials. While the bulk of the materials in this group are short essays, typed with handwritten corrections, on economic affairs, there are also a few autobiographical writings and some historical work, notably on Bismarck. The economic manuscripts concern topics such as the world economy and world currency, the Treaty of Rome, and social and economic justice. The remaining materials include a program for Zeitlin's 85th birthday and a bulletin and membership list for the German Jewish university fraternity alumnus organization to which he belonged, the Burschenbunds-Convent.
Dates
- 1930-1967
Creator
- Zeitlin, Leon, 1876- (Person)
Language of Materials
The collection is in English and German.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Request" button.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org
Biographical Note
Leon Zeitlin was born in Memel, East Prussia (today Klaipėda, Lithuania), in 1876. He obtained a doctorate in economics and served on the Reich Economic Council (Reichswirtschaftsrat) from 1920-1932. Later, from 1928-1932, he also held office as a liberal-democratic representative on the Prussian Diet (Preussischer Landtag). When the National Socialists took hold of the German government, he was forced to give up his post and emigrated to London, England. In exile he took up advocacy for several human rights causes, including improved Jewish-Christian relations, and wrote extensively for several economics journals. In 1962 he published the book Life's value in cash. He died in London in 1967.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection contains the economist Leon Zeitlin's personal and professional correspondence, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a number of economic and autobiographical manuscripts.
Other Finding Aid
The collection's original, German-language inventory is available in folder 1.
Separated Material
Newspaper clippings, scholarly articles, conference proceedings, and several other published or copyrighted items have been removed to the
Two lectures by Joachim Tiburtius (1963 and 1965) and a lecture by Heinz Kloppenburg (1959) published by the Gesellschaft für christlich jüdische Zusammenarbeit, three issues of Common Ground (1955, 1966), an issue of Bulletin on German questions (1966), and an issue of Die Mahnung (1965) have been removed to the LBI Library Collection.
Processing History
Collection was inventoried by Turnheim in 1974 and re-processed for digitization by Timothy Ryan Mendenhall 2011.
- Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969
- Burschenbund-Convent
- Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
- Correspondence
- Economists
- Germany -- History -- 20th century
- Goldmann, Nahum, 1895-1982
- Gollwitzer, Helmut
- Horkheimer, Max, 1895-1973
- Human rights advocacy
- Jewish politicians
- Judaism -- Relations -- Christianity -- 1945-
- Lemmer, Ernst, 1898-1970
- London (England)
- Maas, Hermann, 1877-1970
- Manuscripts (documents)
- Molo, Walter von, 1880-1958
- Oswald Wolff books
- P.E.N.-Zentrum Bundesrepublik Deutschland
- Politicians
- Rengstorf, Karl Heinrich, 1903-1992
- Restitution
- Simpson, W. W. (William Wynn), 1907-1987
- Tergit, Gabriele
- Tiburtius, Joachim
- Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community (1957 March 25)
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Reparations
- Zeitlin, Leon, 1876-
- Title
- Leon Zeitlin Collection, 1930-1967 AR 4128
- Author
- Processed by LBI Staff and Timothy Ryan Mendenhall
- Date
- © 2011
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Revision Statements
- September 28, 2011 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
