LBI London

The LBI London meets Sir Bernard Zissman, producer of "Theodor Herzl: The Man Behind Israel"

The Leo Baeck Institute London is delighted to present an exclusive conversation with Sir Bernard Zissman, one of the producers behind the recent British documentary, Theodor Herzl: The Man Behind Israel. As the latest feature for our Film Club, we sat down with Sir Bernard ahead of our free online screening to discuss the vision and process of bringing Herzl’s story to the screen. Our heartfelt thanks to Sir Bernard Zissman for meeting us. We hope this interview provides some helpful background on the history and culture that shaped Theodor Herzl. The film is available to view free of charge for one week, from 16th–23rd April 2026 at: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/events/film-club/lbi-film-club-theodor-herzl-man-behind-israel For more resources and events exploring the legacy of German-speaking Jewry, you can find full details on our website. Thank you for watching.

Kindertransport in British Memory and Culture: A Roundtable Discussion

This online roundtable brought together scholars and practitioners to examine the Kindertransport through archival research, personal testimony, and reflective practice. Exploring sources ranged from international archives to refugees’ own words, the discussion considered how the Kindertransport has been remembered, interpreted, and mobilised in British culture, and why it continues to matter today.   Speakers:  * Dr Amy Williams (Association of Jewish Refugees) Using international, national, and local archives to construct a transnational history of the Kindertransport * Dr Monja Stahlberger (University of Reading) Listening to Kindertransport Refugees in Their Own Words: how ego documents of the early years in Britain give us unique insights * Howard Falksohn (Wiener Holocaust Library) Kindertransporte: An archivist’s personal perspective   Chair: * Dr Joseph Cronin (Leo Baeck Institute London) https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/kindertransport-26 [https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/kindertransport-26] This event was hosted by the Leo Baeck Institute London in collaboration with the British-German Association. 19 March 2026, 7:00PM - 08:00 PM

LBI 70th Anniversary Celebrations - Eva Reichmann Memorial Lecture

Christine Schmidt, Bea Lewkowicz, Natalia Aleksiun The Wiener Holocaust Library, London [https://www.google.com/maps/search/The%20Wiener%20Holocaust%20Library,%20London]6 November 2025, 6:30PM - 08:00 PM The inaugural Eva Reichmann Lecture, held as part of the LBI 70th Anniversary Celebrations:  Eva Reichmann: Witness, Historian, Legacy This special event celebrates the legacy of Dr. Eva Reichmann, a pioneering historian whose groundbreaking work continues to shape our understanding of Nazi persecution and Holocaust historiography.   Welcome & Introduction  Dr. Joseph Cronin (Director, Leo Baeck Institute London) and Dr. Toby Simpson (Director, The Wiener Holocaust Library) will open the evening by reflecting on Eva Reichmann’s enduring connection to both institutions and the significance of the new lecture series.   Roundtable Discussion  An expert panel will explore Reichmann’s life, work, and impact: * Christine Schmidt (Wiener Holocaust Library) * Bea Lewkowicz (AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive) * Natalia Aleksiun (University of Florida) Topics will include Reichmann’s efforts to collect eyewitness accounts, her role in shaping Holocaust scholarship, and the contemporary relevance of her work in understanding antisemitism and historical memory.   Q&A Session (20–30 minutes)   Followed by light refreshments.   This event will be live-streamed and recorded. Attendance is free, but registration is required. This event is co-hosted by The Leo Baeck Institute London and The Wiener Holocaust Library and sponsored by the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation. Image: The Wiener Holocaust Library collections https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/reichmann

Dr Julia Ng - A Politics of Inaction: Daoism in German-Jewish Thought

In the early twentieth century, German-Jewish thinkers converged upon Daoism as a means to criticise state power and the dominance of economic productivity in modern society. Figures like Moses Mendelssohn, Franz Rosenzweig, and Walter Benjamin explored how Daoist ideas could inspire alternative ways of organising social and economic life, thereby challenging stereotypes of ‘China’ as passive or non-productive. This talk examines how their engagement with Daoism offered a vision of religion’s role in everyday life that moved beyond racialised notions of activity and inactivity, and the mercantilist-salvational paradigm then dominant in Western societies.Julia Ng is Reader in Critical Theory and founding Director of the Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought at Goldsmiths, University of London. A specialist in the work of Walter Benjamin, whose essay ‘Toward the Critique of Violence’ she recently translated for a critical edition she co-edited for Stanford University Press (2021), she is currently completing a book on Daoism and Capitalism with support from a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship. Does belonging always require exclusion? This lecture series explores this universal question through the lens of the German-Jewish experience, a community deeply shaped by its complex relationship to inclusion and exclusion. Spanning key moments in modern history, these talks examine German-Jewish thinkers’ responses to the dominant ‘Protestant ethic’, debates over nationalism in interwar Germany and Austria, the warped ideology of Adolf Hitler, and the long struggle of German Jews to reclaim citizenship after the Holocaust. Join us as we situate these experiences within today’s urgent debates about identity and belonging.Lecture recorded at Senate House, London on Thursday, November 27, 2025Images from the lecture, and other streaming links, are available on the Leo Baeck Institute London website: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/ng-25

Rethinking German Nationalism in the Interwar Period

Erin HochmanDue to the horrors of the Third Reich, we have come to think of German nationalism as inherently antisemitic, racist, antidemocratic, and violent. This talk challenges this conventional interpretation. It shows how the defenders of the Weimar and First Austrian Republics used the großdeutsch idea, the notion that Austria should be part of a German nation-state, to create a democratic nationalism. Unlike their conservative and right-wing opponents, these republicans did not view democracy and Germany, socialism and nationalism, or Jew and German as mutually exclusive categories. As such, the triumph of Nazi ideas about nationalism was far from inevitable.Erin Hochman is Associate Professor of History at Southern Methodist University. She is the author of Imagining a Greater Germany: Republican Nationalism and the Idea of Anschluss (Cornell University Press, 2016). Her current book project examines how various political groups in the Weimar Republic used the concept of a German diaspora to support or challenge democracy, as well as the involvement of so-called Germans abroad in Germany’s political struggles.Does belonging always require exclusion? This lecture series explores this universal question through the lens of the German-Jewish experience, a community deeply shaped by its complex relationship to inclusion and exclusion. Spanning key moments in modern history, these talks examine German-Jewish thinkers’ responses to the dominant ‘Protestant ethic’, debates over nationalism in interwar Germany and Austria, the warped ideology of Adolf Hitler, and the long struggle of German Jews to reclaim citizenship after the Holocaust. Join us as we situate these experiences within today’s urgent debates about identity and belonging.Lecture recorded on Zoom on Thursday, October 9, 2025Images from the lecture, and other streaming links, are available on the Leo Baeck Institute London website: https://www.lbilondon.ac.uk/hochman-25