Leo Baeck Part 1: The Soft-Spoken Sage

Exile released its first episode in November 2022, but the tale of how it came to be started long before that. On this special episode, we’re pulling back the curtain to tell the story of how this podcast gets made. From its origins in the mind of a dedicated board member, to the months of research and planning to select and shape episodes, to the music and sound effects that bring listeners into a time and place long past, Exile is truly a labor of love.  Learn more at lbi.org/exile. This episode is narrated by David Brown, Director of Public History for LBI, New York. It was produced by Laura Regehr. It features contributions from Amy Houston, Stuart Coxe, Frank Mecklenburg, Michael Simonson, Karen Franklin, Renate Evers, Stephanie Ades, Eva Gans, James Dreyfus, Mandy Patinkin, Joshua Malina, Philip Wilson, Emily Morantz, Miriam Bistrovic, and Markus Krah.  This episode of Exile is made possible in part by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.

This is part 2 of the remarkable story of Rabbi Leo Baeck. Trapped in the “model ghetto” of Theriesenstadt, Rabbi Baeck led philosophical discussions that gave a fleeting sense of normalcy to his fellow inmates. But life in the ghetto was harrowing – hygiene was poor, food was scarce, and, as a member of the Jewish Council, Baeck had to make decisions that strained his strong moral principles. Dedicated to protecting his community in whatever way he could, Baeck stayed on at Theriesenstadt until the very end, cementing his role as a powerful symbol of German-Jewish resilience and dignity.

Rabbi Leo Baeck looms large in German-Jewish history, but he began his career as a smalltown rabbi in present-day Poland. Baeck quickly earned a reputation for moral clarity and quiet resolve, even in the face of a powerful opposition. As World War I gave way to the rise of the Nazis, the pressures on German Jewry intensified, and Baeck was thrust into an impossible role: guiding a community through its most dangerous and devastating hour. This is the first chapter of a two-part story.

In 1933, German author Lion Feuchtwanger wrote the first ever novel about the experience of Jews under Hitler. The book became a global sensation. When he finally received an offer in 1938 to adapt his most popular book for the screen in Stalin’s Russia, he jumped at the chance. The film was a success, but the decision would come to haunt him when he lived in California during the Red Scare. The Lion Feuchtwanger Collection in the LBI Archives contains a small amount of original correspondence, manuscripts for a translation of Lysistrata, and an essay on the historical consciousness of the Jews. Lion Feuchtwanger also appears in the extensive papers of his brother Ludwig, which are held by the LBI Archives.  Learn more at lbi.org/feuchtwanger 

In the late 1930s, one of the few places in Berlin that still allowed Jewish visitors was the Zoological Garden, which was established with the support of many Jewish donors. As antisemitic laws took over elsewhere, the Zoo remained a space for community and childhood joy. Eventually, however, even the Zoo would betray the Jews. Sixty years later, one man with fond memories of the zoo realized that an injustice had occurred against his family, and did everything he could to right the wrongs of the past.  The James Cohn Collection in the LBI archives documents his father Dr. Werner Cohn’s battle for restitution of his family’s share in the Berlin Zoo, including correspondence with Zoo officials in 2000. The Papers of Gerald M. Friedman, a former Trustee of the LBI, also document his family’s efforts dating back to the 1960s to recover Zoo shares. They include copies of the entire family’s photographic Zoo membership cards.  Learn more at lbi.org/zoo

Hannah Arendt’s life was shaped by exile. The German-Jewish thinker was forced to flee Nazi Germany as a young woman, and her experience of statelessness impacted her academic and political pursuits for the rest of her life. Independent and single-minded from an early age, Hannah’s intense commitment to her own moral responsibility carried her through anti-Nazi activism, years of exile, and a controversy that shook up the German-Jewish intellectual world. Hannah Arendt was deeply involved in the early activities of LBI New York after it was founded in 1955. However, her papers are at the Library of Congress and her personal library is at Bard College. One significant collection in the LBI Archives that does bear her name is the “Hannah Arendt Eichmann in Jerusalem Collection”, which holds clippings documenting the furious response to her 1963 book in papers ranging from Aufbau to the Congregation Habonim Bulletin to the New Republic. Another collection of correspondence documents the response of the LBI and other German-Jewish organizations to Eichmann before the book’s publication in German.  Learn more at lbi.org/arendt

In 1930s New York, there was only one publication that fully covered the worsening situation for Jews in Europe: the Aufbau. With a daring approach to journalism, editor Manfred George transformed the tiny newsletter of a German-Jewish social club into a lifeline for a worldwide community of refugees. His paper also reported on the atrocities unfolding in Hitler’s Germany long before the mainstream press. The Aufbau held together a community strained past the breaking point, and helped its local readers integrate as Americans. It was a project so successful that it could not last. In addition to the complete run of Aufbau from 1934–2004, which the LBI has digitized and made freely accessible online, our collections include the papers of Norbert and Lilo Goldenberg, the publishers of Aufbau. Learn more at lbi.org/aufbau

In 1937, a young Austrian-Jewish actor named Hedwig Kiesler left Europe to pursue her dream in America. Within months, she became one of the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood: Hedy Lamarr. Known as “the most beautiful woman in the world,” Hedy’s unforgettable face and mysterious allure would take her far in the film industry – but that wasn’t her only success story. In fact, her greatest achievement was an invention that transformed the technology that powers our world. LBI Collections include rich materials on German-speaking Jewish immigrants and refugees in the Hollywood film industry, from Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle to director Ernst Lubitsch to film composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold to actors like Peter Lorre and Hedy Lamarr.  Learn more at lbi.org/hollywood

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Winnie Meyer-Ricard, the eldest daughter of Vera Haymann and Herbert Meyer-Ricard. After nightfall in German-occupied Amsterdam, a small group of friends risked their lives to engage in a unique form of resistance: puppet theater. Behind the darkened windows of a safe-house, marionettes built by graphic designers Vera Haymann and Herbert Meyer-Ricard acted out biting satires of the bitter circumstances unfolding outside. This “fettered theater” gave the audience a glimmer of hope and solidarity in a time of darkness.  The Hermann Haymann Collection in the LBI Archives includes two vivid, hand-illustrated booklets which document Vera Haymann and Herbert Mayer-Ricard’s life in hiding in Amsterdam.  See them online at lbi.org/haymann

Join us for Exile Season 5 – another collection of compelling stories of Jewish lives under the shadow of fascism, drawn from the Leo Baeck Institute’s vast archive. Narrated by critically-acclaimed actor Joshua Malina. Starting February 24, episodes are released every Tuesday. The Leo Baeck Institute is a research library and archive focused on the history of German-speaking Jews. Antica Productions is an award-winning production company based in Toronto that believes in the power of purpose-driven storytelling to change the world.