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Ulrich von Kritter’s Collection in Our Library

Illustrated Works of German-Jewish and Yiddish Literature

Aufgeschlagenes Buch mit einer Textseite und einer Schwarz-Weiß-Lithografie eines Geigers

Jakob Steinhardt, Der Purimgeiger, one of five original lithographs in the Musikalischen Novellen by Jizchok-Leib Perez (Berlin: Gurlitt 1920) from the collection of Ulrich von Kritter; Jewish Museum Berlin, Photo: Lea Weik

In 1994, our museum acquired a part of the library belonging to the bibliophile collector Dr. Ulrich von Kritter (1909–1999). The majority of the nearly sixty books are illustrated works of German-Jewish and Yiddish literature published between 1920 and 1990 in Israel and Germany.

These include a German-language edition of Musikalischen Novellen (Musical Novellas, 1920) by Jizchok Leib-Perez with original lithographs by Jacob Steinhardt and Avrom Liesin’s Yiddish-language Lider un Poemen (Songs and Poems, 1938) with illustrations by Marc Chagall.

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The W. M. Blumenthal Academy is marked in green

Where

W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Library
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin 
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin

Furthermore, some titles published in East Germany can be found in the collection, such as Ostjüdischen Legenden (Eastern Jewish Legends, 1983), published by Alexander Eliasberg and illustrated by Anatoli

L. Kaplan.

Reference

Kritter, Ulrich von, et al., eds. Literarische Bilderwelten des 20. Jahrhunderts. Internationale Buchgraphik in Europa und Übersee aus der Sammlung v. Kritter. Vol. 2: Jüdische und jiddische Literatur (Literary Imagescapes of the Twentieth Century: International Book Graphic Design in Europe and Overseas from the Von Kritter Collection. Vol. 2: Jewish and Yiddish Literature). Bad Homburg vor der Höhe: Stiftung I. & U. von Kritter, 1993.

Isaac Leib Peretz (1852–1915)

More on Wikipedia

Jakob Steinhardt (1887–1968)

More on Wikipedia

Marc Chagall (1887–1985)

More on Wikipedia

Alexander Eliasberg (1878–1924)

More on Wikipedia (in German)

Anatoli L. Kaplan (1902–1980)

More on Wikipedia

Ulrich von Kritter Collection Titel List (in German)

Download (PDF / 900.59 KB / in German / not accessible)

How can I conduct research using the museum’s archive, collections, and library?

Our Reading Room is open to the public. You can also research using our library’s holdings and some of our collection’s holdings online. To view additional holdings, please contact the responsible curators.

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I would like to depict or borrow an object from your collections. Who should I contact?

Your contacts for photo permissions are Valeska Wolfgram and Birgit Maurer-Porat (T +49 (0)30 259 93 433, email: fotodoku@jmberlin.de). Please consider that it may take between four to six weeks  Please note that the processing time for requests can take between 4 and 6 weeks. We will be happy to provide you with further information on fees and reproduction conditions on request.

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Special Collections: On Jewish Art and Culture (6)

  • On Jewish Art and Culture

    Some of our Library’s most important collections include the volumes printed by the Soncino Society of Friends of Jewish Books (founded in 1924), the publications of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, and special collections on Jewish art and visual culture.

  • Graphic Reproduction “Es kam das Feuer” (The fire came) by El Lissitzky

    The William L. Gross Collection

    The 400-book collection includes Judaica, documents, and literature on Jewish art and culture

  • Open book with one page of text and a black and white lithograph of a violinist.

    The Ulrich von Kritter Collection

    The collection comprises around sixty illustrated works of German-Jewish and Yiddish Literature (1920–1990)

  • Book cover by Kurt Löb: "De schilder en andere verhalten" with nude painting.

    The Kurt Löb Collection

    The collection includes signed and unsigned works by the book illustrator, exhibition catalogs, essays by and about him, and his dissertation

  • Drawing of a stone tower.

    The Soncino Society Collection

    With eighty Society publications from 1924 to 1937, our collection – a bequest from Hermann Meyer – is complete

  • A man in a suit is reading the C.V. newspaper while standing and talking on the phone, in the background a woman at a desk and a man at a filing cabinet.

    The John F. and Hertha Oppenheimer Collection

    Publications of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, other writings from the interwar period, and books published in the US after 1945

  • Title leaf in the Hebrew alphabet with publisher's name in the Latin alphabet.

    Collection Hebrew Printing in Berlin

    The collection contains about 400 Hebrew and Yiddish titles from the eighteenth century to 1933

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