Undeterred by lack of money, Lepman wrote to 20 nations to donate books for the exhibition. Not everyone saw the point: “Twice we have been invaded by the Germans. We regret that we must refuse you.” Unwilling to accept no for an answer, Lepman wrote again and wasn’t disappointed. The selection of Belgian children’s books ended up being one of the best at the exhibition.
In Lepman’s cheerful memoir A Bridge of Children’s Books (The O’Brian Press, 2002) she describes how she organized the exhibition and elicited the help and support of people like Eleanor Roosevelt. Lepman’s determination and dedication to her project is all the more remarkable considering that she had to leave the land of her birth in 1936 in order to survive. (She emigrated to London where she worked for the BBC). The enormous success of the exhibition in Munich resulted in it being shown to equal acclaim in Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Berlin. In Berlin 30 000 free copies of the peace loving Ferdinand the Bull were distributed to children shortly before Christmas. Lepman later founded the International Youth Library in Munich (now located in Schloss Blutenburg).
Jella Lepman, like Jeanette Wolff, Fritz Bauer and Marcel Reich-Ranicki, made an enormously important contribution to the making of modern day Germany. Their contributions need to be remembered all the more in face of a growing number of rightwing attacks on Jews.
On 11th November Ronen Steinke is going to come to Munich to read from and talk about his most recent book Terror gegen Juden. Steinke describes the increasingly precarious situation of German Jews. Institutions and buildings don’t get the police protection they need (most glaringly obvious in the case of the attack on the synagogue in Halle) while hate crimes and anti-Semitic attacks are on the increase.
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Jella Lepman’s book was originally published in German (Die Kinderbuchbrücke, S. Fischer Verlag, 1964) and is now -- at the 50th anniversary of her death -- republished.
A brand new children's book, The Lady with the Books: A Story inspired by the Remarkable work of Jella Lepman is also published.