Yudlov 2038 Haggadah Jerusalem 1897

Yudlov 2038 Haggadah Jerusalem 1897

Publisher: Shmuel HaLevi Tzuckerman

1897 German Haggadah with the Liebhold–Schüler Family Provenance Chain (1900–1970s)

This 1897 German Haggadah preserves an extraordinary sequence of handwritten inscriptions spanning nearly eighty years, transforming the volume from a simple ritual text into a living document of German-Jewish family history.

The earliest known inscription is:

“Martha Liebhold, Heidelberg, 14 April 1900”

Research strongly suggests that this Martha Liebhold later married Oskar Schüler, member of the prominent German-Jewish Schüler banking family and father of Irmgard Schüler, who later emigrated to Palestine/Israel after the rise of Nazism.

Subsequent inscriptions throughout the Haggadah appear to document decades of Sedarim, family gatherings, and friendships within the same German-Jewish social circle. Names recorded in the volume include members of the Liebhold family, the Lowenthal family, and others who participated in Passover celebrations during the years before and during the First World War.

Particularly moving are the wartime entries from 1915, including inscriptions written “zum Seder” (“for the Seder”), preserving evidence of Jewish ritual continuity in Germany during World War I.

The Haggadah continued to accumulate inscriptions through the Weimar era, the Nazi period, and into postwar Israel, including later Hebrew and Jerusalem-related entries. Together, these inscriptions trace a remarkable historical arc:

• Imperial Germany
• World War I
• the Weimar Republic
• Nazi-era rupture and emigration
• and eventual continuity in Israel.

More than a century after its printing, this Haggadah survives not merely as a religious book, but as a witness to the endurance, displacement, and survival of one interconnected German-Jewish family network across generations.

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