Dr. Erich Bloch and Lebenheim Library
The Dr.-Erich-Bloch-und-Lebenheim-Bibliothek is a public lending library in Constance that specializes in Judaica . It is run by the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Konstanz e. V. (IKG e.V.) in Sigismundstraße 19.
The library, built up by Erich Bloch (author of the history of the Jews in Konstanz in the 19th and 20th centuries ) and Else Levi-Mühsam , financially supported by Alfred Lebenheim and opened in November 1982, can be found in the library landscape of the Lake Constance area, but also in the Area of Jewish culture in Germany after the Shoah can still be seen today as a specialty. This institution is the only public Jewish library in the wider area of southwest Germany and eastern Switzerland .
In addition to books on the Jewish religion, philosophy, history, Jewish life in Germany and other countries, questions of Christian-Jewish relations, anti-Semitism and the Shoah, as well as volumes on art and science, there are numerous biographies of Jewish personalities and contemporary witnesses from various epochs . An extensive collection is devoted to the land of Israel with different topics . The fiction department contains novels, dramas and volumes of poetry by Jewish authors from America, Europe and Israel as well as Yiddish literature and song texts. Art books , various periodicals and books for children and young people complete the offer, which mainly consists of titles in German.
Else Levi-Mühsam was in charge of the library until she moved to Jerusalem in September 1995. Since then, the honorary management has been in the hands of Thomas Uhrmann. During this time a great process of change had started within the community. As everywhere in Germany, the number of members rose unexpectedly due to the influx of Jews from the former Soviet Union, required intensive integration work and made permanent employment of a rabbi necessary. For the library, this meant two things: on the one hand, the financial leeway for new acquisitions, which was not too great anyway, became even narrower, and on the other hand, the criteria for further acquisitions changed. Works on religious roots, books on traditions and rules of Jewish religious life, and teaching materials for the children of the community were now in demand. Rabbi Chaim Naftalin, who had a fatal accident in 2002, needed the most important religious and religious legal texts and commentaries in Hebrew for his on-site studies. Since then, the Talmud , Shulchan Aruch , texts by Maimonides and Hasidism have been added to the loan collection. The inventory of non-rabbinical literature was also supplemented by generous donations from the population.
As the first Judaica library that is not affiliated with a university, and at the same time as the first library of a Jewish community in Germany, the library was accepted into a library network in 2001. The entire book inventory was entered into the electronic catalog of the SWB ( South West German Library Association ) at the Library Service Center Baden-Württemberg (BSZ), which is also located in Konstanz . This means that over 4,660 titles (as of February 2016) can be researched on the Internet.
literature
- Hans-Christoph Junge: The Bloch Library. Foundation and Legacy of a Deserved Citizen. In: Constance. Constance Almanac . 41st year 1995, p. 61.
- Martina Keller-Ullrich: Hidden book treasure. Dr. Erich Bloch and Lebenheim Library. In: Constance. Constance Almanac. 58th year 2012, pp. 59-60.
- Thomas Uhrmann: 30 years of the Dr. Erich Bloch and Lebenheim Library (Judaica) 1982–2012. Balance sheet, thanks and chronicle. In: Mitteilungsblatt des Oberrat der Israeliten Baden, Karlsruhe, Oberrat der Israeliten Baden, Ed. 43, 2012, pp. 72–75.