The donation constitutes an important asset for the library’s extensive collections of personal papers of 20th-century authors, which include, i.a., Werner Bergengruen, Oskar Maria Graf and Hermann Lenz.

Rafael Seligmann was born in Tel Aviv on 13 October 1947, where his parents had emigrated to when forced to flee from the national socialists. He moved to Munich with his family in 1957. Here, he studied history and political sciences and acquired his doctoral degree with the dissertation "Israels Sicherheitspolitik. Zwischen Selbstbehauptung und Präventivschlag – Eine Fallstudie über Grundlagen und Motive" ("Israel’s security policy. Between self-assertion and pre-emptive attack – a case study of fundamentals and reasons") . He wrote part of his dissertation in the reading room of the state library. He worked as a foreign-political advisor of the headquarters of Germany’s CDU party in Bonn from 1981 to 1982. From 1985 to 1991, he was a lecturer in the field of international relationships at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich. He has been living in Berlin and working as an independent author since then.

Seligmann was the first writer in the German-language area who published Jewish contemporary literature after the Shoa as of 1988. His first novel was "Rubinsteins Versteigerung" ("Rubinstein’s auction"). The author wrote all his 18 novels and non-fiction books by hand. Seligmann’s literary work focuses on the representation of German-Jewish relationships. He published numerous novels, for example "Der Musterjude" ("The Exemplary Jew", 1997), "Die Kohle-Saga" ("The Coal Saga", 2006), "Deutsch Meschugge" ("German meshugge", 2017), an autobiography "Deutschland wird dir gefallen" ("You will like Germany", 2010) and a family trilogy, which is based on his parents’ life and his own biography: "Lauf Ludwig, lauf" ("Run, Ludwig, run", 2019), "Hannah und Ludwig" ("Hannah and Ludwig", 2020) and "Rafi, Judenbub" ("Rafi, Jew boy", 2022) . In addition, he published numerous non-fiction books, which predominantly address the situation of the Jews in Germany. In 2012, he founded and became the chief editor of the newspaper "Jewish Voice from Germany – The English-language bridge between Germany and the Jews all over the world", which was published quarterly up to 2019. The archive of the "Jewish Voice" is also included in the pre-death estate. His most recent, currently widely discussed non-fiction book "Brandstifter und ihre Mitläufer. Putin – Trump – Netanyahu. Warum sie erfolgreich sind und wie man sie stoppen kann" ("Instigators and their followers. Putin – Trump – Netanyahu. Why they are successful and how they can be stopped") was published in April 2024.

Minister of the Arts Markus Blume:

An outstanding asset for the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: It is not a matter of course for the pre-death estate of Rafael Seligmann to come to Munich – this shows the great appreciation enjoyed by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek as a scholarly universal library. Rafael Seligmann’s works as a writer, historian and political scientist are a rich source of knowledge, understanding and contemplation, particularly at a time at which anti-Semitism and far-right positions are finding new breeding ground, and constitute an important supplement of the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

Dr. Klaus Ceynowa, Director General of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek:

We are proud and happy that Rafael Seligmann has decided to entrust the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek with his complete pre-death estate. The synopsis of the handwritten manuscripts of his literary works, his correspondence, the multiplicity of essays and articles, as well as the numerous personal documents, in particular results in thrilling and frequently unexpected views of the multi-faceted aspects of German-Jewish coexistence in the Federal Republic.

Press release for download  (PDF, 77 KB)

Contact

Dr. Klaus Ceynowa
Director General
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Ludwigstrasse 16, 80539 Munich
Phone  +49 89 28638-2206
direktion@bsb-muenchen.de

Peter Schnitzlein
Press Spokesman, Head of Communications
Phone +49 89 28638-2429
presse@bsb-muenchen.de