Learning from the past for the present in order to shape the future.
The Ilse Blank-Mezger-Hesselberger Foundation promotes research, education and scientific and social dialogue on Jewish life, anti-Semitism in the past and present and ideologies of all kinds that are hostile to humanity and freedom.
Research
Our work focuses on the history of Jewish citizens of Munich and Bavaria, in particular the Blank, Mezger and Hesselberger families and their relatives. Their lives exemplify the decisive contribution of the Jewish population to German society, and at the same time the existential rupture caused by the anti-Semitism of the Nazi reign of terror culminating in the Shoah.
Learning from the past for today and tomorrow: We promote academic debate on totalitarian ideologies of all kinds, combined with the clear mission of strengthening historical awareness through sound education and contributing to the fight against ideologies that are hostile to humanity and freedom.
Education is a prerequisite for historical awareness and social development. Only through knowledge of the past can we shape the future. The Foundation promotes the transfer and exchange of knowledge, links science with politics and culture, and initiates dialogue between experts and the general public.
Discussions, lectures, seminars and evening meetings will take place in Haus Blank, the founder’s former home, following its renovation as a new place for education and encounters in Munich. Visitors will be able to experience Ilse Blank directly as the “hostess” in a permanent exhibition on her life and family history.
PROJECTS
European Summer University for Jewish Studies 2026
European study programme on Jewish history, combining academic exchange and support for early-career scholars.
Retro-digitization of the Publication Series of the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies (HfJS)
The long-standing publication series of the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies will soon be freely accessible worldwide under a new open-access agreement with Winter Verlag.
Remembered Present – An Exhibition on the Theresienstadt Ghetto
In the travelling exhibition „Remembered Present“, artist Marlies Poss engages with the Theresienstadt Ghetto through original documents, personal stories, and artistic reflections.
The DP Camp Pocking-Waldstadt in Lower Bavaria was the largest camp in the American occupation zone and the second largest in post-war Germany after Bergen-Belsen.
Travelling exhibition: “Yours, Anne. A Girl Makes History.”
The travelling exhibition tells the story of Anne Frank from her childhood to her last seven months in the camps of Westerbork, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
Retro-digitization of the Publication Series of the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies (HfJS)
The long-standing publication series of the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies will soon be freely accessible worldwide under a new open-access agreement with Winter Verlag.
Remembered Present – An Exhibition on the Theresienstadt Ghetto
In the travelling exhibition „Remembered Present“, artist Marlies Poss engages with the Theresienstadt Ghetto through original documents, personal stories, and artistic reflections.
The DP Camp Pocking-Waldstadt in Lower Bavaria was the largest camp in the American occupation zone and the second largest in post-war Germany after Bergen-Belsen.
Travelling exhibition: “Yours, Anne. A Girl Makes History.”
The travelling exhibition tells the story of Anne Frank from her childhood to her last seven months in the camps of Westerbork, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
