Survivors' Talmud - Project History

Project History

Before printing could begin, a complete set of the Talmud had to be found to use as a prototype. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the Nazi government had stolen, looted and burned many of the religious books belonging to German Jews, and not one complete set of the Talmud could be located in Western Europe. A complete set was difficult to find in America, too, since yeshiva students had relied on editions printed in Poland. Finally, two complete sets were found in New York and sent to Germany by the Joint.

The U.S. Army acquisitioned the Carl Winter Printing Plant in Heidelberg, Germany, which had produced Nazi propaganda literature during the war. However, the sheer size of the project – which required "millions of sheets of paper, tens of thousands of meters of bonds and strips of linen paper, cord, typesetting, cardboard, photoengraving equipment, and a permit for electricity use" – made the army rethink its commitment. In February 1947 the project was scaled down from 3,000 sets to 50 sets. (Later, the Joint financed the printing of several hundred additional sets.)

Another delay ensued when a material called collodion, which enables the transfer of page images to zinc photographic plates, was found to have been banned during the war and was only available in the city of Zwickau in the Soviet occupation zone. As the Cold War had begun, Zwickau was unreachable, so the collodion had to be ordered from America. Meanwhile, Germany's currency crisis delayed the German's government's funding of the project until the implementation of economic reforms in spring 1948.

When printing began, it became clear that the original projection of 16 volumes per set was inadequate, so 19 volumes were planned for each set. The first copies were finally printed in May 1949. In a moving ceremony on 13 May 1949 in the Berlin headquarters of the U.S. Army, Rabbi Snieg presented the first copy of the Talmud to General Lucius Clay, Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany, with the words, "I bless your hand in presenting to you this volume embodying the highest spiritual wisdom of our people". Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel, also received a copy.

The final run was completed on 16 November 1950. Approximately 500 sets were printed.