Arthur Langerman Foundation

The Arthur Langerman Foundation (full name: Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism Foundation; German short form ALF) is a non-profit, non-legal-capacity foundation under the trustee administration of the Technische Universität Berlin. It is based at the university's Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (Centre for Research on Antisemitism) in Berlin and is named after its founder, the Belgian Holocaust survivor Arthur Langerman. The foundation is dedicated to his humanist and Enlightenment ideals and to his lifelong commitment to confronting antisemitism. The foundation's endowment consists of the Langerman Collection, described by the foundation as the world's largest private collection of antisemitic depictions. The collection contains more than 11,000 visual antisemitica from four centuries and from nearly all European countries, the United States, Iran and North Africa. It includes thousands of postcards, hand-drawn sketches, posters, leaflets, illustrated books, newspapers, magazines, paintings, engravings and drawings, as well as a smaller number of antisemitic sculptures, figurines and everyday objects. The material is made available for research, education and exhibition purposes. To fulfil its central purpose — preserving, researching and practically using the Langerman Collection — the foundation established the Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism (ALAVA) at the Centre for Research on Antisemitism. ALAVA is intended to open the collection to international research and educational work and to develop its own research projects on the history of visual antisemitism. The foundation also aims to exhibit parts of the collection regularly at changing locations and to use the archive in pedagogical projects for education, awareness-raising and prevention. The foundation was founded in March 2019 after Arthur Langerman publicly announced in October 2017 that he wished to donate his collection to the Centre for Research on Antisemitism, on condition that the centre create suitable accommodation and the organisational and personnel structures needed for research and educational use. The founding was supported by figures including Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller, TU Berlin President Christian Thomsen, Centre director Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, her deputy Uffa Jensen, Berlin state secretary Steffen Krach, state secretary Sawsan Chebli and the German federal government's antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein. The foundation is governed by a board of trustees (Kuratorium), which decides on the strategic development of ALAVA and includes the founder among its members.

The history of the Arthur Langerman Foundation is inseparable from the biography of its founder and his extraordinary collection of visual antisemitic artefacts. Arthur Langerman, a Belgian Holocaust survivor, collected antisemitic images of the most varied kinds for most of his life. Over nearly 60 years he assembled a unique collection through flea markets, fairs, auctions and the internet. As of November 2020 the collection comprised around 8,100 visual antisemitica of diverse types and provenance, including more than 3,500 postcards, over 1,000 hand-drawn sketches, several hundred posters, leaflets and pamphlets, numerous illustrated books, newspapers and magazines, and a large number of paintings, engravings and drawings. It also includes, to a lesser extent, antisemitic sculptures, knick-knack figurines and everyday objects such as walking sticks, tobacco pipes, dishes and jugs. Beyond its size and media diversity, the collection is distinguished by its broad regional and temporal range: it contains visual antisemitica from nearly all European countries, the United States, Iran and North Africa, datable to the period from the 17th to the 21st century. For a long time Langerman collected primarily for himself. During the 2010s, in the face of an increase in antisemitic statements, attitudes and incidents, he resolved that his collection should be actively used to educate about the dangers of antisemitism and to counter its resurgence. The German historian and academic adviser to Langerman, Carl-Eric Linsler, succeeded in persuading the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (ZfA) of the Technische Universität Berlin to place a new research focus on the phenomenon of visual antisemitism. In October 2017, the collaboration between Arthur Langerman and the ZfA was officially announced at a TU Berlin press conference. On that occasion Langerman stated that he was prepared to donate his collection entirely to TU Berlin, provided that the university would make suitable space available. On 20 March 2019, Arthur Langerman, Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller, TU President Christian Thomsen, the director of the Centre for Research on Antisemitism Stefanie Schüler-Springorum and her deputy Uffa Jensen announced the transfer of the collection to the ZfA and the founding of the Arthur Langerman Foundation at a ceremony in the TU Berlin Lichthof. The founding was driven substantially by the commitment of Carl-Eric Linsler, who formulated the conditions regarding conservation, research and educational use of the Langerman Collection and worked for the creation of the organisational and personnel structures assured by TU Berlin and the State of Berlin. The founding was supported by, among others, Michael Müller, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Berlin state secretary for science and research Steffen Krach, Berlin state secretary for civic engagement and international affairs Sawsan Chebli, and the antisemitism commissioner of the German federal government, Felix Klein. With the move of his collection to Berlin, Langerman expressed concrete hopes: "Berlin was the logical choice for me. The collection thus returns to the origin of the evil. At the same time, Germany is for me the only country in Europe that has faced its history and drawn lessons from it. I connect a great hope with this: Germany and Berlin must be pioneers in the fight against antisemitism and for democracy!" To fulfil its central purpose — preserving, researching and practically using the Langerman Collection — the foundation established the Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism (ALAVA) at the Centre for Research on Antisemitism of TU Berlin. The archive is intended to make the Langerman Collection accessible to international research and educational work in the coming years and to design its own research projects on the history of visual antisemitism. The foundation's founding also marked the beginning of continuous collecting activity aimed at making materials on visual antisemitism past and present usable for future research and teaching. A central concern of the foundation is to exhibit parts of the collection regularly and at changing locations in order to educate about the history and dangers of antisemitism; to this end, materials can be borrowed for exhibition purposes, and ALAVA is also to design its own exhibitions. Furthermore, the archive holdings are to be used in pedagogical projects for educational, awareness-raising and prevention purposes, including the recognition of visual stereotypes.

• 2020

  As of November 2020, the collection comprises around 8,100 visual antisemitica; the foundation's website later states the collection contains over 11,000 items.

• 2019

  On 20 March 2019, the founding of the Arthur Langerman Foundation and the transfer of the Langerman Collection to the ZfA are announced at a ceremony in the TU Berlin Lichthof.

• 2017

  Arthur Langerman publicly announces at a TU Berlin press conference that he wishes to donate his collection to the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, provided suitable space is made available.

A non-profit academic and educational foundation that makes the world's largest private collection of antisemitic imagery available for research, education and exhibitions in order to raise awareness of the history and dangers of antisemitism.

• Langerman Collection

  The world's largest private collection of visual antisemitica, with over 11,000 items from four centuries and nearly all European countries, the USA, Iran and North Africa.

• Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism (ALAVA)

  An archive established at the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung to make the collection accessible for international research and education and to develop research projects on visual antisemitism.

1. 1Arthur Langerman Foundation – Homepagearthur-langerman-foundation.org
2. 2Geschichte und Stiftungszweck | Arthur Langerman Foundationarthur-langerman-foundation.org
3. 3Arthur Langerman Foundation – Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4Arthur Langerman Foundation – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org