NLI and UWA Provide Remote Access to Archival Material

19 March 2025

Photo: NLI

Together with the National Library of Israel (NLI), UWA has digitised the estates of important Jewish-German intellectuals. These archives as well as further material can now be accessed online remotely for the first time.

The National Library of Israel (NLI) holds the papers of numerous important Jewish-German intellectuals. Between August 2021 and the end of 2023, the UWA Cluster of Excellence and the NLI digitised 24 of these archives, which contain unique documents such as the correspondence of Gershom Scholem, the manuscripts of Martin Buber, or the notebooks of Albert Ehrenstein and Ludwig Strauss – to name just a few examples. The contents of more than 19,000 archival files, occupying some 120 metres of shelf space, have been transformed into approximately 750,000 digital images. However, only a fraction of this incredible amount of source material has been made publicly available. Until recently, much of it could only be accessed within the NLI network, which required a physical presence in Jerusalem.

The value and usefulness of large-scale digitisation projects undoubtedly depends on the question of accessibility. On the initiative of UWA and with funding from the DFG, remote online access to the images has now been established. Upon request via the NLI website, registered users can access the digitised archival material for self-study, teaching, and research purposes. Permission is valid for one month. A new request can be made at the end of the month.

Remote access is not limited to the archives digitised as part of the NLI/UWA collaboration. In total, the new NLI application includes over 3.4 million digital objects from more than 100,000 archival files digitised through multiple initiatives. As digitisation and rights clearance efforts move forward, the amount of accessible material will continue to grow in the future.

• Request remote access
• Learn more about the NLI’s German-Jewish archives and the question of digitisation
• Related UWA research projects: ‘Wandering Artefacts’ (2020–2024), ‘A Fresh Look’ (2024–2025)