Some 6,000 miles from Maryland, the National Library of Israel and an organization housed within, the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, serve as a repository for history and artifacts from Jewish communities worldwide. One of those communities is Baltimore. In fact, across the archives and the library’s collections, there are over 8,000 items related to Charm City.
“On one hand, we try to connect with and make Jewish communal history in the sense of collecting, but we also seek to be the resource for the Jewish community,” said Yochai Ben-Gedaliah, the director of the archives, which holds material from medieval times to the present.
Many of the documents related to Baltimore date from the period right before and after World War II. These official documents are requests from Europeans, mostly Austrians, with names like Zuflucht, Warmann, Auerbach, Bleiberg, Steiner and Schecter, who sought to immigrate to the United States to flee Nazi tyranny. According to these papers, many Austrians had relatives in Baltimore – not a surprising fact, given the large number of Jews with German origins in the city at that time.
Also in the Center’s collection are fascinating views of Baltimore’s early connection to Israel. There are a variety of ledgers documenting the donations of Baltimoreans who made gifts in the 1920s and ‘30s to the growing Yishuv, the Jewish community in British-run, pre-Israel Palestine. Included in these fascinating ledgers are the names and addresses of the donors. The street names, like Park Heights Avenue and Shirley Avenue, will ring a bell with anyone who knows where Jews lived in Baltimore in that era. Gifts of 25 cents and up to $1.55 are listed – small but not insignificant donations, given that the United States was locked in the Great Depression at the time.
Baltimoreans of a certain age will also remember the movement to get the former Soviet Union to release its Jews so they could live in countries where they would be free to pursue their religion. There were many rallies across the United States, and Baltimore Jews were deeply involved in this cause. Evidence of this are the many posters and ads promoting the release of Soviet Jews in the library archives.
The collection also includes photographic archives, including late 19th- and early 20th-century images of Baltimoreans and their synagogues. In fact, the archivists are looking for relatives of a man, known only as K. Baum, who posed for the Baltimore photographer George Mueller. If you think the photo displayed may be of one of your ancestors, you can contact the library. You can look at hundreds of photos and documents by going to the library’s website at nli.org.il and exploring their collection. You might find yourself lost for hours in the extensive archives.
Some of the most significant items in the collection are the personal papers and correspondence of prominent Jews of the time. Well-known writers and educators from Baltimore, such as Judah Magnes, Harry Friedenwald and Alex Dushkin, all have correspondence within the archives. Baltimore Jewish Times readers might be interested in knowing that the archives hold copies of the newspaper dating back to 1962.
There are also several Baltimore-based Passover Haggadot. One such example includes a Haggadah published by The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
Older readers may remember when the Avalon Game Company was based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, in the 1970s and ‘80s. This company published board games centered on wars and armed conflicts worldwide. One such game was called “Tank Warfare: The Armed Warfare of the Arab-Israeli Wars, 1956-73.” People who played these games incessantly as kids will remember being caught up in their thrall.
There is also a document that simply lists Baltimore’s Jewish population in the early 20th century. That serves as a reminder that random things have made their way into the archives, and the Center’s staff does not always know why or when that happened.
The National Library of Israel and Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People hold similar collections for the Jewish communities of other cities. The materials are extensively digitized and fascinatingly diverse. The history of the Jewish people in communities throughout the world awaits your interest. You will not be disappointed.
Paula Minsk is a freelance writer.
