Hyams Collection

The Leo Baeck College library receives a rare collection of children's books on long term loan

The Leo Baeck College library has taken possession, on long-term loan, of a unique collection of some 550 books for and about Jewish children. Most of the 550 books were published in Germany, some of them in the 1930s under the Nazi regime. They survived the Holocaust because they were taken by children when their families emigrated before the war to Palestine, North and South America, and to England. Some were brought to England in the Kindertransport, which began following Kristallnacht 70 years ago.

Dr Charles Barry Hyams, who grew up in London’s East End, and his wife Professor Helge-Ulrike Hyams, began collecting this material in 1976 from the various countries to which they had been taken. The private Hyams Collection was housed in the Museum of Childhood (Kindheitsmuseum) in Marburg, and exhibited in Frankfurt, Berlin, Montreal, and a synagogue near Bergen-Belsen.

Explaining the transfer to the Leo Baeck College Library, Dr Helge-Ulrike Hyams said:

“There is no more suitable place for these children’s books. They will not only enjoy the protective environment necessary, but they will also stimulate the work of the rabbinical and teacher training centre, and enrich the life of pupils in Jewish schools. It seems as if the books have at last found their ultimate home.”

The acquisition, due to the initiative of College Librarian Dr Annette Boeckler, was made possible by the financial support of the Lewis Family Trusts.

Professor Marc Saperstein, Principal of the College, said:

“These books illuminate the world of the Jewish child during a critical period of our history. They reveal the movingly impressive educational efforts by adults, including world-famous authors, to communicate the meaning of Jewish identity to children living under unprecedented conditions.”

The Hyams Collection has already served as a source for academic research on such themes as Children and War, Children and Anti-Semitism, Children in the Nazi Era, and Children and Zionism. It is expected that scholars of the history of Jewish education, children’s literature, and social history, will make extensive use of the material.