Collection of Memor Books ("Memorbücher")

Memorbücher originated as memorial books of the Jewish congregations in the Middle Ages. They were read out during the commemoration of the souls of the deceased (Haskarat Neshamot). Memor or Yiskor books gained special significance after the Nazi period, as they often provided a relatively complete insight into the number of victims.

In 1993, the Moses Mendelssohn Center acquired 120 Memor or Yiskor books. They are written primarily in Hebrew and Yiddish, but also in English and Spanish or Ivrit. They are descriptions of Jewish life in communities in Romania, Lithuania, Ukraine and especially in Poland between 1860 and the Shoah. All volumes of the collection were published after the Shoah and often during exile, in order to preserve the memory of the Jewish communities that no longer exist.

The collection is continuously updated.