Jewish Everyday Life as Human Resistance 1939-1941: Chief Rabbi Dr. Joseph Zvi Carlebach and the Hamburg-Altona Jewish Communities Documents of Chief Rabbi Joseph Zvi Carlebach, 1939-1941

Intensive archival research and correspondence with Jewish people, originally from Germany, later scattered all over the world, lead us to a number of rare documents. This material enabled us to construct a realistic and at the same time amazing picture of a most intensive everyday life in Hamburg’s Jewish community, guided by Chief Rabbi Joseph Zvi Carlebach, under the most severe circumstances. The care for children, for the old and sick people, and for the imprisoned Jews never stopped, neither under the strict anti-Jewish laws nor later in the Concentration Camp Jungfernhof near Riga. By revealing deep religious and honest feelings, the scientifically based documents enable us to get a glimpse into pure humanity.