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Photograph Collection

Physics: Albert Einstein
The theoretical physicist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879. He developed the theory of relativity and received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. Einstein immigrated to the United States in 1933 and died in Princeton, NJ in 1955. Albert Einstein riding a bicycle in Santa Barbara, CA in February 1933. F 5314A.
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Unknown Photographer, Jewish service during WW I
Sphinx and Camel Photograph
Man riding a camel near the Great Sphinx of Giza. The photograph appears to have been taken before the excavation of the Sphinx’s body in the 1880s. LBI Archives, unprocessed donation, 2018.
Seder at the House of Hugo Brill
Seder night Passover 1934 (5694) at house of Hugo Brill given by Wilhelm Buchheim in Germany. LBI Archives, Wilhelm Buchheim Collection, AR 2078.
Anneliese Erlanger
Anneliese Erlanger was born July 31, 1925 in Ichenhausen, Germany, daughter of Siegfried Erlanger and his wife Emma, née Regensburger. Anneliese left with the last Kindertransport on Aug. 24, 1939 for England, where she lived with an uncle. At age 16, she became a student worker at Anna Freud’s residential Hampstead Nursery for children. Her younger sister Inge was not selected for the Kindertransport and was killed in the Holocaust along with their mother Emma. LBI Archives, Anna Erlanger Rotenberg Collection, AR 25576.
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Joseph and Friederike (Friedl) Roth strolling in Berlin in January of 1927. Joseph Roth Collection, AR 1764, F 37731
Kurt Tucholsky
Photographic Portrait of Kurt Tucholsky, undated. LBI Archives, Kurt Tucholsky Collection, AR 1210 F 3478.
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Hietzinger Tempel: Synagogue in Vienna's Eitelbergergasse in the city’s 13th District. F 24032

The Leo Baeck Institute’s Photograph Collection contains over 25,000 photographs documenting the history of German-speaking Jewish communities, families and businesses from all over the world.

The photos portray prominent members of German-speaking Jewish communities; buildings such as synagogues, businesses and residences; cultural, youth, religious and educational organizations; military including Jewish soldiers and World War scenes; as well as images showing aspects of daily life of various German-speaking Jewish populations, from social gatherings and school portraits to family vacations and religious ceremonies.

There are many highlights to the Leo Baeck Institute’s Photograph Collection, such as photographs of Rabbi Leo Baeck himself; photographs that depict the restless and courageous social work of Jüdische Winterhilfe der Jüdischen Gemeinde zu Berlin during the early years of the Nazi regime; photographs of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries that were mostly destroyed throughout the German speaking lands; and a moving photo album put together by the Leo Baeck Institute in honor of Den Unvergessenen - The Not Forgotten Ones: men and women who had died during the Nazi terror in their service of fellow Jews.

There also are – of course – hundreds of photographs that illustrate the various facets of German Jewish culture, like – for example – an array of portraits and private family snapshots that show the acclaimed author Joseph Roth.

Another significant highlight are photographs depicting physicist and Nobel prize laureate Albert Einstein: these photographs cover most of Einstein’s life; from his youth in Germany to his arrival in New York, to his time in Princeton, and the extensive worldwide traveling he did throughout his life. The photographs offer a view into Einstein’s professional life and his interactions with many other notable figures, as well as into his personal life, including his love of sailing, his family, his homes, and his friends.

Photographs from the Leo Baeck Institute’s Collection are regularly included in a wide variety of international publications, exhibitions, documentaries and educational materials.

Many photographs have been digitized and may be accessed online through the LBI online catalog.

Please contact archivist Michael Simonson in the following cases:

  • If you can identify or correct any information in the photograph records;
  • If you are a copyright owner who is not properly identified;
  • If you cannot find the photograph you are looking for;
  • To request a reproduction or for permission to use an image.

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