Manuscripts (documents)

The collection consists primarily of German publications by Dr. Kurt M. Dresel during the interwar period.

Original typescripts of sermons and speeches by Rabbi Kurt Metzger.

This collection documents the personal life and professional career of art director, editor, and photographer Kurt Safranski (1890-1964), who co-founded the photo agency Black Star in 1935. The collection also includes information about the career and life of Kurt’s daughter, Tina Fredericks-Koch, née Safranski (1922-2015), who worked as an art director for magazines and in real estate.

This collection documents the life and work of Kurt Schwerin. Kurt Schwerin immigrated to the United States in 1938 where he became a librarian and professor of law. Contained are several of his writings, research notes and other papers mainly related to his attempts to organize the immigration of his family, to settle down in the United States and regarding to his function as board member and head of the Chicago Chapter of the Leo Baeck Institute.

The collection holds materials pertaining to the physician and musician Kurt Singer, including some of his musical writings; reviews of his books; correspondence, including letters from Max Friedlaender, Wilhelm Furtwaengler, and Siegfried Ochs, and others. Also included are papers of Kurt Singer’s father, the Hungarian-born Moritz Singer, who served as rabbi in Koblenz, including letters from Helmuth von Moltke and Duke Friedrich I of Baden; and documents from his studies at the universities of Berlin and Jena, including a thesis, as well as academic reports signed by Moritz Lazarus, Heymann Steinthal, and Theodor Mommsen.

The file contains various documents pertaining to Kurt Singer.

This collection contains family papers of the Zander and Prager families, as well as some of Kurt Zander's personal papers. There are several photographs of various family members and family homes in Prussia and Turkey, and a body of correspondence which documents the Zander family's time in Turkey and Greece in 1904-1905.

This collection contains manuscripts and family trees relevant to the Lamm family, which originated in Wittelshofen.

This collection contains various materials pertaining to the Jewish boarding school ("Landschulheim Herrlingen").

Folder 1 and 2 mostly contain documents (invitations, songs, poems, speeches, wills) pertaining to occasions such as weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, golden weddings, and birthdays of various family members, but also official documents such as school certificates, identity cards, police clearances etc. from the years 1833 to 1955 (including undated materials), and family correspondence (1865-1931).

Folder 3 contains materials pertaining to Selma Wittenberg née Landshut (1878-1960). It includes manuscripts by Selma Wittenberg, a notebook titled "Lehrgut Wittgenstein und die Seinen" (handwritten, 41 pp., also exists as typescript (carbon copy)) and a second notebook (handwritten, 46 pp., also exists as typescript (carbon copy)) with several short stories ("Schabbeslichter","Was ein alter Familientisch zu erzaehlen weiss", "Idill [sic] in der Kleinstadt", "Omchen, erzaehl uns ein Maerchen!", "Glauben", "Vom Birnbaum", "Tante Erna – das Sternchen", "Der Wagen", and "Ein Urteil"). The texts are written in a concentration camp on Rhode (Rodi) under Italian occupation in the summer of 1941 after the ship, which was supposed to bring Wittenberg from Triest to Palestine, was wrecked. The latter notebook consists of various memoirs including descriptions from the situation in the camp.

The file also contains correspondence of Wittenberg (1938-1941), partly drafts of letters, in which she refers to life in the camp.

Folder 4 contains a family history by Siegfried Landshut (bound print, 44+1 pp.) including a genealogical table from 1962, family photographs, and materials pertaining to the Landshut family collection by the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem.

The collection consists of materials pertaining to the Lask family, in particular to the fancy goods business (Galanterie- und Luxuswarengeschaeft) “Michael Lask” in Kiel (founded in 1869, and forced out of business and sold in 1938).

This collection documents Helmuth Lasker's genealogical research project on the origins of his family. In addition to drafts of Lasker's genealogical manuscript, there is extensive correspondence, as well as some family, personal, and vital papers.

The Laupheim Community Collection consists almost exclusively of photocopied documents from the 18th through the first half of the 20th century which document the life of the Jewish Community in Laupheim, a city in Baden-Württemberg.

This collection includes various material concerning the Jewish Community in Leipzig. It contains administrative files and correspondence from the Third Reich as well as lists of deportations. It also contains speeches and essays about Jewish life in Leipzig.

The Lekisch Family collection documents personal and professional activities of Kurt Lekisch, a medical doctor originally from Mainz, Germany, who was active in his profession as well as academic research until his death in Texas in 1994. The collection also includes a small series on other members of the Lekisch family. The material mainly reflects his work as a doctor in the US but also as a volunteer practitioner in India and as a practitioner in Rhodesia. His active life as a medical researcher and publisher can be seen in his numerous publications; some of which derive from his studies at universities in Germany, Switzerland, and the US. Although the bulk of the documents consist of manuscripts and printed material, the collection also includes correspondence, photos, vital documents, and a range of certificates.

The Leo Baeck Collection documents the life and work of Rabbi Leo Baeck, well-known as a leader, scholar, and spokesman for German Jewry. Although the most prominent items in this collection are articles, clippings, and biographical material on Leo Baeck, the collection also holds original manuscripts of his writing, as well as personal documents, correspondence, and a small amount of photographs and artwork.

The Leo Baeck Family Collection documents the lives and influential events of members of the Baeck and Berlak families, specifically Leo Baeck, Ruth and Hermann Berlak, and Marianne and A. Stanley Dreyfus. Most prominent is the documentation on Leo Baeck's life; other salient themes include the World War I experience of Hermann Berlak and the Dreyfuses' involvement in preserving the memory of Leo Baeck's life and teachings. The collection includes extensive correspondence; a large accumulation of articles, especially those focused on Leo Baeck; a smaller amount of personal papers, manuscripts, drafts and notes; and a few photographs and slides.

The collection contains the correspondence of the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem from 1950 up until 2005 and comprises 42 folders. The file contains internal correspondence of the institute's staff, as well as correspondence with other individuals and institutions. The correspondence includes minutes of meetings, requests for support, applications for scholarships, and research inquiries. It also addresses topics such as book publishing, donations of archival materials, cooperation with other institutes, and current affairs.

This collection contains records documenting the operation of the Leo Baeck Institute London. The majority of the material relates to the publication of The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook, journal of the Leo Baeck Institute. It is the pre-eminent journal on central European Jewish history and culture. Also included is a small amount of documentation about the ongoing series of monographs on German-Jewish history, the Schriftenreihe wissenschaftlicher Abhandlungen des Leo Baeck Instituts. The collection also contains administrative documents, such as general and LBI-internal correspondence, meeting minutes, and reports, as well as printed materials clipped and saved by LBI London. It also includes a small but wide-ranging set of archival materials collected by or donated to LBI London.

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.

This collection holds the papers of Leo Baerwald, rabbi of the Munich Jewish community from 1918-1940. Included are some of his religious writings, correspondence, and genealogical material. Other subjects of this collection are the Lazarus family, the Munich Jewish community, and Leo Baeck. Documents include manuscripts, letters, clippings, memorial albums, and family trees.

The Leo Breslauer Collection documents the professional career of Rabbi Leo Breslauer, and to a smaller extent, his personal life, especially in relation to his and his family’s departure from Germany. Prominent topics include his rabbinical work at congregations in Fürth, Germany and in New York City, his writings, and his thoughts on Zionism.

The Leo Glueckselig Collection includes materials pertaining to Leo Glueckselig and other members of the Glueckselig family and consists mostly of personal correspondence, photographs, and documents, whereas other document types such as printed materials, manuscripts, art works, and a cookbook constitute a smaller part of the collection.

This collection describes the work and life of the physiognomist and writer Leo Herland. The papers found here emphasize his written work, and the largest portion of the collection is made up of manuscripts of his compositions. The collection also holds personal and professional correspondence, published articles, some personal documents, diaries, clippings, and a few photographs.

The collection consists of typescripts (copies) of stage plays in English translation by Bert Brecht, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Eugene Ionesco, Georg Kaiser, Leonard Lesley, and Martin Walser, translated and/or adapted by Leo Kerz. Also included here are postcards showing stage designs by Leo Kerz.

The collection contains 3 typescripts pertaining to the Zionist functionary Leo Lauterbach and to his family.

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.

Manuscripts by Leopold Friedberg.

Leopold Levi was a merchant in Stuttgart. Most of the material in this collection gives information on his activities for Jewish organizations and the Jewish Community in Wuerttemberg. Levi was a member of the Oberrat der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinschaft Wuerttembergs (from 1919 to 1940) and of the Israelitisches Gemeindevorsteheramt. He also was an Oberkirchenvorsteher in the Oberkirchenbehoerde and he was active in the Chewra Kadischa. Furthermore he assisted the Juedische Nothilfe. During the years 1941-1943 he succeeded to immigrate to the United States. He died in 1968 in New York.

Series I of the collection pertains to Rabbi Leopold Rosenak's work as a field chaplain during World War I in Kaunas (Kowno) in Lithuania. It contains manuscripts by Rosenak including a report on his work as field chaplain in 1915, private and official correspondence (letters, cables) with individuals and institutions such as "Ausschuss fuer fahrbare Kriegsbuechereien an der Front", Leo Baeck, "Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden", "Kriegsministerium" (Prussian War Office), "Kaiserlich Tuerkisches Generalkonsulat zu Bremen" (Turkish Consulate in Bremen), and Erich Ludendorff. The correspondence documents in particular his activities for the native Jewish population in Lithuania in particular regarding food supplies and education, his service as a field chaplain, and his efforts to support and supply libraries for Prussian soldiers. The series contains, furthermore, various certificates of L. Rosenak, a typescript by L. Hoppe, Protestant field chaplain, titled "Ein Ostermorgen im Grossen Hauptquartier" (typescript, 3 pp.), and flyers in German and Yiddish inviting to services of L. Rosenak in Lida.