Antisemitism institute to open at Birkbeck

• The Pears Foundation donates £1.5m to set up the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism; and the Wiener Library to relocate to Birkbeck

The Pears Foundation and Birkbeck, University of London have announced the establishment of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism. It will be funded by a £1.5m donation from the Pears Foundation and will be located on the Birkbeck campus in Bloomsbury. The Institute will work in partnership with the world-renowned Wiener Library, which will be relocating to Birkbeck from its current home in Devonshire Street, to a College building adjoining the Institute for the Study of Antisemitism in Russell Square.  The Institute will become part of Birkbeck’s School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, and will have close links with the College’s School of Arts and its School of Law.

The Master of Birkbeck, Professor David Latchman, commenting on the announcement said: "We are delighted that the Pears Foundation donation enables us to establish the Institute and also that we will be able to provide a home for the Wiener Library. Birkbeck commands an unparalled combination of expertise in the field of antisemitism and intolerance in a wide range of disciplines, from political sciences to psychosocial studies and from history to law. It is this singular mix that will provide the Institute's foundation for research, teaching and its contribution to public policy and debate. Birkbeck's expertise particularly within the History department, as well as the partnership with the Wiener Library, means that the Institute will bring a historical dimension to the subject that doesn't exist anywhere else."

Trevor Pears, Executive Chair of the Pears Foundation said: "The Pears Foundation commissioned a research/mapping report which established that there appears to be no academic faculty or institution at any UK university undertaking the role we forsee for this new Institute. We are setting up the Institute with Birkbeck at this particular time because our Foundation considers that this strategic approach to the study of antisemitism is not being sufficiently addressed elsewhere and is long overdue. We believe that the study of antisemitism is vital to the understanding of all racism and xenophobia. Our concern is that antisemitism is misunderstood and viewed solely as a Jewish issue. We believe antisemitism is a 'societal illness' – a rise in antisemitism signals something is wrong or worsening in society."

The Institute is the result of several years of work, reflecting the Pears Foundation's philosophy of replacing tolerance with understanding, promoting understanding of 'the other' through better education. The Foundation's work in, for example, Holocaust Education, the School Linking Network, Shared Futures, the Jewish Way of Life CD-Rom etc, are examples of this approach

The work of the Institute will fulfil three key aims: to offer an unaffiliated source of public policy advice; to carry out and disseminate high quality research; and to provide a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses (including postgraduate research programmes). The Institute will draw together work carried out in existing Schools and Centres within Birkbeck; it will link with other agencies; and implement its own programme of studies, teaching and public policy advice and debate.

Initially the Institute will be staffed by a Professorial Director, working with an assistant, with the long term objective of developing a team over the next few years. The professorial appointment will be advertised internationally to attract the best possible candidate. There will be other Birkbeck staff from complementary academic disciplines in the same building, particularly from the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy, but also from other Schools and research centres on the Birkbeck campus, and from the Wiener Library.

The Library is the world's oldest institution for the study of antisemitism and the crimes of Nazi Germany, the history of German and Central European Jewry, the Holocaust and its aftermath. It is a major archive comprising not only 60,000 books and 2,000 periodical titles but also 1.5 million pages of archival material. The Wiener Library provides a unique opportunity for Birkbeck academic staff and students, as well as others, to use its vast resource for research, teaching and outreach activities in the area of antisemitism, religious and racial intolerance.

Many organisations will be able to use the Institute's resources that contribute to civic life, public debate and policy formation. It will offer courses to attract a wide range of students including: community religious and educational leaders, school teachers; local government employees and civil servants. Birkbeck’s specialisation in part-time university courses for those in work will enable its students to apply the results of their studies in their working lives, as teachers, civil servants, and community leaders.