RTL

Press release | Berlin, 09.09.2024

• Donation of over 120,000 euros for the digitization of publishers’ estates
• Valuable sources on the history of Jewish families in and from Germany are to be made available online worldwide

Berlin, September 9, 2024 – Bertelsmann is supporting the Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) in digitizing its archives so that they can then be made available online to an interested public around the world. Over three years, from 2024 to 2026, the international media, service and education company will donate 40,000 euros each to the JMB to enable the digitization of publishing and publishers’ estates. This is part of a comprehensive initiative by the JMB to digitize a total of around 1,800 family estates archived there. They were preserved through persecution and emigration and donated by descendants from all over the world. The valuable sources provide unique insights into more than 250 years of the history of Jewish families in and from Germany. Some of them extend into the present day. Other German companies and foundations are also supporting the large-scale digitization project of the renowned JMB, which wants to fulfill its claim to be the central platform for Jewish life in Germany, even in the digital space.

Thomas Rabe, CEO of Bertelsmann, says: “Bertelsmann is delighted to be able to support the important work of the Jewish Museum Berlin. The JMB is one of the most outstanding institutions and one of the most visited in the German and European museum landscape. And it is invaluable for the research, archiving and presentation of Jewish life in our country. Bertelsmann is happy to make a contribution with its donation, especially since our company itself, its history and its successes have been closely linked to publishers and authors for almost 200 years. We can appreciate how creative and historically valuable the publishers’ legacies may be, which the JMB will soon make available worldwide in digital form, and we are excited to see them online.”

Hetty Berg, director of the JMB, is pleased with the progress and support: “The digitization of archives and collection objects is one of the focal points of the digital transformation at the JMB. In the current digitization project of the family estates, we are expecting around 500,000 digital copies, which we will then legally review for publication and put online in 2026. The digitization of photographs, works of art, documents and other objects will not only make accessibility easier and wider, it will also mean that we will have backup copies in the future. We are preserving the collections and their contexts for future generations.

The family collections bear witness to Jewish life – and at the same time to life in society as a whole, including exclusion, persecution, annihilation, exile and new beginnings. Without the generous donations of various donors, this milestone would still be a long way off. I am delighted that Bertelsmann is helping us to make sources on the history of Jewish authors and publishers available online with the digital copies.”

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company with more than 80,000 employees and is active in around 50 countries around the world. The group includes the entertainment company RTL Group, the book publishing group Penguin Random House, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato Group, Bertelsmann Marketing Services, the Bertelsmann Education Group and the international fund network Bertelsmann Investments. The company generated sales of 20.2 billion euros in the 2023 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination enables first-class media offerings and innovative service solutions that delight customers all over the world. Bertelsmann is pursuing the goal of climate neutrality by 2030.