Germania Judaica

The catalyst was a visit by Martin Buber in 1958. Buber advised representing a subject properly rather than fighting antisemitism — a philosophy the library made its own. The founding circle in 1959 included authors Heinrich Böll and Paul Schallück, journalist Wilhelm Unger, publisher Ernst Brücher, Cologne's head of cultural affairs Kurt Hackenberg, and bookseller Karl Keller; Klaus von Dohnanyi joined later. Their shared conviction: ignorance breeds prejudice. When Cologne's synagogue was desecrated at the end of 1959, the incident gave the project further momentum.

The collection started with just 180 printed works, housed in the Hansahochhaus. In 1979 the library moved into Cologne's Central Library, which now administers it. Around 45,000 volumes are available on open shelves, with a comparable number held in closed stacks.

The core focus is literature on the history of Jews in Germany from the early modern period onward, with particular emphasis on local and regional history. The library also covers general Jewish history and culture, Zionism, Palestine and Israel, antisemitism, and the portrayal of Jews in literature and film. Over 500 German-Jewish newspapers and journals round out the holdings.

The institution aims to spread knowledge and counter prejudice. Every three years its Arbeitsinformationen publishes a survey of current research on the history of German Jewry and antisemitism. It should not be confused with the research and publication project of the same name, which has documented Jewish settlements in the German Reich since 1903.