Draft:Arthur Langerman Foundation

The Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism Foundation (Arthur Langerman Foundation, ALF for short) is a non-profit, informal foundation that is managed under the trusteeship of Technische Universität Berlin and is based at the Center for Research on Antisemitism in Berlin. It was founded in March 2019 and named after its founder Arthur Langerman, whose humanistic and enlightened ideals it is committed to. The foundation’s assets consist of the world’s largest private collection of antisemitic images, which is to be made accessible for research, educational work and exhibitions. In this way, the Arthur Langerman Foundation promotes the scientific and educational discussion of visual antisemitism.

History

The history of the Arthur Langerman Foundation is closely linked to the biography of its founder and his private collection of visual antisemitic artifacts. Over almost 60 years, the Belgian Holocaust survivor Arthur Langerman has compiled a unique collection of currently around 8,100 visual antisemitic items of various types and provenances at flea markets, trade fairs, auctions and on the internet (as of November 2020). The collection includes “more than 3,500 postcards and 1,000 original sketches, several hundred posters, leaflets and pamphlets, numerous illustrated books, newspapers and magazines, as well as a large number of paintings, engravings and drawings. This makes the Langerman Collection of antisemitic images presumably the largest of its kind in the world. It also includes – to a lesser extent – anti-Jewish sculptures, bibelots and everyday objects such as walking sticks, tobacco pipes, crockery and jugs.” In addition to its scope and media diversity, the collection is particularly characterized by its broad regional and temporal diversification. It contains visual antisemitic material from almost all European countries, the USA, Iran and North Africa, which can be dated to the period from the 17th to the 21st century.

After Arthur Langerman had collected primarily for himself for a long time, in the course of the 2010s, in view of the increase in antisemitic statements and incidents, he decided that his collection should be actively used to educate about the dangers of antisemitism to counteract its resurgence. The German historian and scientific advisor to Langerman, Carl-Eric Linsler, managed to convince the Center for Research on Antisemitism (ZfA) at the Technical University of Berlin to place a new research focus on the phenomenon of visual antisemitism. In October 2017, a cooperation between Arthur Langerman and the ZfA was officially announced at a press conference at the TU Berlin. On this occasion, Langerman expressed that he would be willing to donate his entire collection to the TU Berlin if the latter would provide a suitable location.

On 20 March 2019, Arthur Langerman, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller, TU President Christian Thomsen as well as the director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism Stefanie Schüler-Springorum and her deputy Uffa Jensen announced the handover of the collection to the ZfA and at a ceremony at the TU Berlin the establishment of the Arthur Langerman Foundation. The creation of the foundation was largely due to the commitment of Carl-Eric Linsler, who formulated the conditions for conservation, research and educational use of the Langerman collection and advocated the establishment of organizational and personnel structures, which were assured by the TU Berlin and the State of Berlin. The founding of the foundation was supported by, among others, Michel Müller, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the Berlin State Secretary for Science and Research, Steffen Krach, the Berlin State Secretary for Civic Engagement and International Affairs, Sawsan Chebli and the Antisemitism Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany, Felix Klein. With the move of his collection to Berlin, Arthur Langerman formulated concrete hopes: “Berlin was the logical choice for me. The collection thus returns to the origin of the evil. At the same time, for me, Germany is the only country in Europe that has faced up to its history and learned lessons from it. I have great hope in this: Germany and Berlin must be pioneers in the fight against antisemitism and for democracy!"

Foundation Purpose and Programmatic Orientation

In order to fulfill the foundation's central purpose - to preserve, conduct research on and make practical use of the Langerman collection in the best possible way - the Arthur Langerman Foundation has set up the "Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism" (ALAVA) at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin. The archive is intended to make the Langerman collection accessible to international research and educational work in the coming years, as well as to design its own research projects on the history of visual antisemitism. “The founding of the foundation also marks the beginning of continuous collection activity, the aim of which is to make materials about visual antisemitism in the past and present usable for future research and teaching.”

In addition, it is a central concern of the foundation to exhibit parts of the collection regularly and in changing locations in order to educate about the history and dangers of antisemitism. To make this possible, the “materials from the ALAVA holdings can [...] be borrowed for exhibition purposes" and "in time ALAVA will also develop its own exhibitions." Furthermore, the archive holdings shall be used as part of pedagogical projects for educational, information and prevention purposes. The aim is to train the recognition of visual stereotypes and learn how to deconstruct them.

The foundation is financed by the State of Berlin, the TU Berlin and donations. Its board of trustees decides on the strategic direction of ALAVA and the use of financial resources. According to the chair of the board of trustees, Paul Nemitz, “the best possible research, educational use and expansion of the Langerman Collection […] should be ensured both by applying proven scientific methods and by incorporating innovative concepts and approaches. To this end, the Arthur Langerman Foundation explicitly strives for collaborations with private and public actors in both the analog and digital sectors."

Publications

• Angelika Königseder/Carl-Eric Linsler/Philippe Pierret (eds.): Arthur Langerman – Mensch de l’année 2020. Documentation of the Awards Ceremony and Catalog for the Exhibition “Poison Pens, Images of Hatred. Extracts from an Unusual Collection” (13 September 2020 – 20 June 2021, Centre Communautaire Laïc Juif, Brussels) [in English, French and German], Berlin 2022.
• Arthur Langerman Foundation (ed.), Gründungsfestakt der Arthur Langerman Foundation im März 2019. Dokumentation der Vorträge und der begleitenden Ausstellung, Berlin 2020.