Erna Weill (1904-1996) was an American German-Jewish sculptor known for her busts of 20th-century persons, in particular civil rights figures. [1]
Born Erna Helft in Frankfurt, Germany, she studied sculpture with Helene von Beckerath, a student of Auguste Rodin, at Goethe University Frankfurt. [2] In 1933, a course with Martin Buber in Frankfurt inspired her to pursue Jewish themes in her work. [3] She married a chemist, Ernst Weill.
In 1936, the family fled Germany first to Switzerland and then to the United States, settling eventually in Teaneck, New Jersey. She continued her work of busts of famous people, many from the Civil Rights Movement and of Jewish themes. In addition she taught in New York City public schools and had her own art school. [2]
Leopold Zunz was the founder of academic Judaic Studies, the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual. Zunz's historical investigations and contemporary writings had an important influence on contemporary Judaism.
Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel, was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to receive international acclaim".
Leo Baeck was a 20th-century German rabbi, scholar, and theologian. He served as leader of Reform Judaism in his native country and internationally, and later represented all German Jews during the Nazi era. After the Second World War, he settled in London, in the United Kingdom, where he served as the chairman of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. In 1955, the Leo Baeck Institute for the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry was established, and Baeck was its first international president. The Leo Baeck Medal has been awarded since 1978 to those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy.
Richard Beer-Hofmann was an Austrian dramatist and poet.
Hermann Struck was a German Jewish artist known for his etchings.
Fritz Bamberger was a German Jewish Scholar, educator and magazine editor who directed the school system for the education of Jews in pre- World War II, was the editor-in-chief of Coronet starting in 1942, and taught and wrote in the areas of philosophy and intellectual history.
The Leo Baeck Medal has been awarded since 1978 by the Leo Baeck Institute of New York City, an international research institute devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. It is the highest recognition the Institute bestows upon those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy.
The Leo Baeck Institute, established in 1955, is an international research institute with centres in New York City, London, Jerusalem and Berlin, that are devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. The institute was founded in 1955 by a consortium of influential Jewish scholars including Hannah Arendt, Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem. The Leo Baeck Medal has been awarded since 1978 to those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy.
Rachel Bernstein Wischnitzer, was a Russian-born architect and art historian.
Elsa Fraenkel née Rothschild (1892–1975) was a German–born British sculptor raised in Heidelberg, Germany.
Carola Strauss Trier (1913–2000) was a German dancer, acrobat, contortionist, and later a teacher, lecturer, and practitioner.
Aron Freimann was a German librarian and historian. He was the son of Israel Meïr Freimann, and grandson, on his mother's side, of the chief rabbi of Altona, Jacob Ettlinger. He attended the Royal Gymnasium of Ostrowo and in 1893 entered the University of Berlin, where he studied history and Oriental languages, devoting himself at the same time to the study of archival and library systems. Parallelly he took courses at the Rabbinical Seminary at Berlin.
Florence Mendheim was a New York Public Library branch librarian notable for her undercover surveillance of American Nazi groups in the pre-World War II 1930s. She was the daughter of German-Jewish immigrants and an observant Jew who practiced kosher dietary laws. Her personal papers, including documentation of her spy activities, are housed in the archives of the Leo Baeck Institute in New York.
The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking Jewish émigrés at a conference in Jerusalem in 1955. The other Leo Baeck institutes are Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem and Leo Baeck Institute London, and the activities of all three are coordinated by the board of directors of the Leo Baeck Institute. It is also a founding partner of the Center for Jewish History, and maintains a research library and archive in New York City that contains a significant collection of source material relating to the history of German-speaking Jewry, from its origins to the Holocaust, and continuing to the present day. The Leo Baeck Medal has been awarded by the institute since 1978 to those who have helped preserve the spirit of German-speaking Jewry in culture, academia, politics, and philanthropy.
Selma Stern-Täubler was one of the first women to become a professional historian in Germany, and the author of a seven-volume work The Prussian State and the Jews, her opus magnum.
Clementine Sophie Krämer was a German Jewish writer of poetry, novellas and short stories. She was also an activist in the German Jewish community and was ultimately detained in Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she died.
The Leo Baeck Institute London is a research institute dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history, politics and culture, founded in 1955. It belongs to the international Leo Baeck Institute with further research centres in New York City, Berlin and Jerusalem.
Lessie Sachs (1897–1942) was a German-born American poet and artist who was active during World War I and World War II.
Margarete Susman was a German-Jewish poet, writer, and critic who lived much of her life in Switzerland. The author of hundreds of essays, five collections of poetry, and notable literary-critical works, she distinguished herself as a philosophical writer addressing vital questions in literature, politics, culture and religion. Her 1946 work Das Buch Hiob und das Schicksal des jüdischen Volkes (1946), a reflection on Jewish history through the lens of the Biblical book of Job, was one of the earliest postwar Jewish theological responses to the Holocaust.
Marta Mierendorff was a German typist, art sociologist, and researcher. She was a professor in the Department of German at the University of Southern California (USC). She was made a USC Emeritus Research Professor in 1984.