Our Archive is located in the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy, opposite the museum. It safeguards numerous bequests, family collections, and individual documents that permit researchers to draw conclusions about the lives and fates of Jewish families and individuals. We document Jewish history in all its diversity, covering religious, cultural, political, and business life as well as private festivities and personal experiences.

Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Archives
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
Historical and Geographical Scope
Our holdings include documents from 1623 to the present with an emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The majority of the archival materials come from Berlin, where approximately a third of German Jews lived until the 1930s. However, since our museum opened, we have been able to acquire extensive material documenting Jewish life in other towns and regions in Germany and, in some cases, beyond.
Diverse Documents from Private Donations
Our Archive’s collection is composed almost entirely of private donations. The approximately 1,700 sets of documents range in length from several pages to 40 archival boxes. They include writs of protection and citizenship certificates, wedding and other civil status certificates, documents of military service, of training and professional life, business, scientific, and private correspondence, diaries, and memoirs. Photographs, decorated certificates, souvenirs, and everyday objects from our other collections complement the written materials.

Testament of Veitel Heine Ephraim (1703–1775), Berlin 1774; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe
Aubrey Pomerance, head of our archives and curator of the new core exhibition, talks about a family album as a testimony to a close friendship and two diverging life paths; Jewish Museum Berlin 2020. Read more about this family album.
Historical Emphases
We have particularly extensive holdings on middle-class life in the German Empire, on participation in the First World War, and on life and persecution during the Nazi era, encompassing internment, deportation, and murder, but also emigration and reestablishment in exile. A growing number of documents from the postwar period reflects communities' reconstruction and the fresh start, life in Displaced Persons camps, individuals' return from exile, and Jewish life in both parts of Germany and in the reunified country after 1989.
Branches of Other Archives on Our Premises
Our archive also houses a branch of the New York–based Leo Baeck Institute, with more than 4,500 microfilm reels of the institute's holdings available in our Reading room. It is also home to a branch of the Wiener Library with roughly 500 microfilm reels documenting Nazi rule and Nazi crimes.
A Look into our Holdings
All holdings can be viewed by researchers, students, and other interested parties in the Museum's Reading Room on request. (The Reading Room's opening hours and other information on our website). To submit a request, please use our registration form. In addition, the original documents are frequently used in workshops with school and university students to place topics of Jewish history in context.
Contact
Aubrey Pomerance
Head of Archives/Leo Baeck Institute
T +49 (0)30 259 93 556
F +49 (0)30 259 93 409
a.pomerance@jmberlin.de
Address
Jewish Museum Berlin
Lindenstraße 9–14
10969 Berlin
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Documenting Brutality
Historical sources on the antisemitic violence in Germany between 1930 and 1938 in the holdings of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Online Project
2020

12 of 12,000
Fallen German-Jewish Soldiers in the First World War
Online Project
2016
Reading Room
Opening hours, catalogs, databases, and further information
Information

Leo Baeck Institute Archive in Berlin
Branch of the New York–based Leo Baeck Institute, a Research Archive on German Jewry
information

The Wiener Library at our Museum
A branch of the oldest institution worldwide documenting the Nazi era and its crimes
Information

Shared History
1,700 years of Jewish life in German-speaking lands
Virtual Conference
Mon 7 Dec–Wed 9 Dec 2020
Access to Archival Holdings
Online registration for use of documents from our archive
Registration Form
Terms of Use
For the Archive and Library of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Information
Behind the Scenes: Anecdotes and Exciting Finds while Working with our Collections (11)
Online Features: The Background and Ramifications of 9 November 1938 (5)
Event Series: Eyewitness Talks (12)
Selected Objects: Archive (10)
Archival Collections Online
Tickets, letters, journals, certificates, passports, and other official documents (in German)
Online Collections

Unpacking Donations
Family collections arriving at the museum
JMB Journal 18
2018
1933: The Beginning of the End of German Jewry
Online project for the 2013 Theme Year “Diversity Destroyed: 1933–1938”
Online Project
2013

Paula and Bernhard Lustig's Wedding Album
A worthwhile insight into our archive
Online Feature
2017
Conservation

Our Collections
Areas of interest and subject matter
All About ...
Glimpses of Specific Archival Holdings
Our staff presents individual documents and collections on our blog.
Blog
Return of the Café Nagler
Jörg Waßmer on the trail of a coffee shop
Blog