Mosque Archives in Germany
The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore (AAL) mosque archive in Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Covering a time period of almost 80 years (1928-2004), this archive is an important crossroads in the interaction between Germany and India in the twentieth century and a valuable source of knowledge, not only of the functioning of a mosque over time but also of our understanding of global history in the early twentieth century.
Handed over to the National Archive of Berlin in 2019, the AAL mosque archive has been made available for research. The finding aid LAB D Rep. 920-16 contains approx. 70.000 documents, 5.000 photographs and 331 religious pamphlets.
In a first step we addressed correspondences dating from the interwar and postwar period and traced them to a number of other archives, thus connecting sender to receiver. This has resulted in the discovery of communicative patterns, which neither the AAL mosque archive nor the receiving / sending archives disclose when viewed on their own. The findings serve as a platform for next steps, both in this archive and in the ethnographic survey of mosque archives across Germany.
The following publications inform about the AAL mosque archive:
The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore (AAL) mosque archive in Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Covering a time period of almost 80 years (1928-2004), this archive is an important crossroads in the interaction between Germany and India in the twentieth century and a valuable source of knowledge, not only of the functioning of a mosque over time but also of our understanding of global history in the early twentieth century.
Handed over to the National Archive of Berlin in 2019, the AAL mosque archive has been made available for research. The finding aid LAB D Rep. 920-16 contains approx. 70.000 documents, 5.000 photographs and 331 religious pamphlets.
In a first step we addressed correspondences dating from the interwar and postwar period and traced them to a number of other archives, thus connecting sender to receiver. This has resulted in the discovery of communicative patterns, which neither the AAL mosque archive nor the receiving / sending archives disclose when viewed on their own. The findings serve as a platform for next steps, both in this archive and in the ethnographic survey of mosque archives across Germany.
The following publications inform about the AAL mosque archive:
Gerdien Jonker
Das Moscheearchiv in Berlin-Wilmersdorf: Zwischen muslimischer Moderne
und deutscher Lebensreform (April 2019): projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/das-moscheearchiv-in-berlin-wilmersdorf_zwischen-muslimischer-moderne-und-deutscher-lebensreform/2019
Photo: The mosque archive in the cellar of the house of the imam in 2017
Das Moscheearchiv in Berlin-Wilmersdorf: Zwischen muslimischer Moderne
und deutscher Lebensreform (April 2019): projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/das-moscheearchiv-in-berlin-wilmersdorf_zwischen-muslimischer-moderne-und-deutscher-lebensreform/2019
Photo: The mosque archive in the cellar of the house of the imam in 2017
Gerdien Jonker
Das buddhistische Haus in Berlin-Frohnau. Die Archivierung des
Buddhismus aus protestantischer Sicht (2020): https://www.projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/das-archiv-des-buddhistischen-hauses-in-berlin-frohnau/2020
Photo: Dr. Paul Dahlke's filing system in the attic of the Buddhist House in 2019
Das buddhistische Haus in Berlin-Frohnau. Die Archivierung des
Buddhismus aus protestantischer Sicht (2020): https://www.projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/das-archiv-des-buddhistischen-hauses-in-berlin-frohnau/2020
Photo: Dr. Paul Dahlke's filing system in the attic of the Buddhist House in 2019
Gerdien Jonker, „Ein Beben im religiösen Feld. Die Zusammenarbeit von Juden, Buddhisten und Muslimen im Nachkriegs-Berlin.“ In: Medaon. Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung (2021)
Photo: Berliner Tagesspiegel, March 1948
Photo: Berliner Tagesspiegel, March 1948
