The Internet Archive, working with the Leo Baeck Institute, is pleased to be a part of the Oct 16, 2012 launch of their DigiBaeck project, a massive (formerly print) archival collection of history pertaining  to German speaking Jewry.

Robert Miller, Global Director of Books for the Internet Archive states that “digitizing over 4,000 linear feet of material whose scope ran the gamut of post cards from Berlin to letters from Auschwitz was both empowering and humbling at the same time.” He continues, “One of my staff, who worked on the collection, family was from Poland and suffered terribly during the Holocaust. Being able to assist in putting these original documents online was cathartic for her.”

The Leo Baeck Institute helped teach Miller’s teams in Princeton, NJ and San Francisco, CA. how to work with and handle unique and high value archival materials. And he and his staff helped teach Leo Baeck how to move from print to on-line pixels. It was a true partnership in every sense of the word.

Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, states, “it is collections going public like Leo Baeck’s that remind us of the adage that collections that remain private or not digital are for all intents and purposes extinct. I applaud Leo Baeck for the direction they have taken.”

Links to the Internet Archive’s copy of the the Leo Baeck Material may be found at archive.org/details/LeoBaeckInstitute and details about the Leo Beck Collection may be found on their site at www.lbi.org/digibaeck.

The link to the New York Times Piece may be found here at http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/archive-of-jewish-life-in-central-europe-going-online/.