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Episode 20: From Cradle to Grave

The Jacob Jacobson Story

AR 12089 item 17 rectangle long
Portrait of Jacob Jacobson, Leo Baeck Institute Archives, Jacob Jacobson Family Collection, AR 12089, Item 17.
birth register mendelssohn AR 7002 Box 4, Folder 150
Moses Mendelssohn's entry in Altes Familien Register, Berlin 1778-1811Jacob Jacobson Collection, AR 7002, Box 4, Folder 150.
oranienburgerstrasse 28 public domain
Oranienburgerstrasse 28, the municipal building of the Berlin Jewish community and location of the Gesamtarchiv. Public domain.
mohlbuch AR 7002 Box OS 11 Folder 175
Circumcision register, Berlin, 1787-1838,Jacob Jacobson Collection, AR 7002, Box OS 11, Folder 175.

Jacob Jacobson dedicates his life to archiving the history of Jews in Germany. For years, nobody pays much attention—until the Nazis take power. Suddenly, Jacobson’s meticulous research is being used to destroy the people whose history he wanted to preserve. Unwittingly, Jacobson has also become an invaluable asset to the Nazis. Can he protect himself without betraying his community?

One of the most extensive collections in the LBI Archives, the Jacob Jacobson collection includes former holdings of the Gesamtarchiv der Deutschen Juden – birth, death, and marriage records, mohel books, and administrative records from Jewish communities across Germany dating back to 1660. The remaining holdings of the Gesamtarchiv are now divided between the Central Archive of the Jewish People in Jerusalem and Centrum Judaicum in Berlin. Most of what we know about Jacobson’s experiences at the Gesamtarchiv under the Gestapo and in Theresienstadt come from a fragmentary memoir in German and survivor testimony published in London in 1946, both in the LBI Archives.

Exile is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York and Antica Productions. It’s narrated by Mandy Patinkin. This episode was written by Marijke Peters.

Our executive producers are Laura Regehr, Rami Tzabar, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Our producer is Emily Morantz. Research and translation by Isabella Kempf. Voice acting by Manuel Mairhofer. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson. Theme music by Oliver Wickham.

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.

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