Posted on 05/13/25
Jerusalem, Israel - May 13, 2025 - Upon arrival in Israel, the Presidents of Israel and Germany visited the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, Israel.
President Isaac Herzog and President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the National Library in Jerusalem on Tuesday, May 13/15 Iyar, immediately upon their arrival in Israel following the President’s state visit to Germany. They were accompanied on the library tour by the Chairman of the Board of the National Library, Sallai Meridor, and the Library Director, Oren Weinberg.
The visit began at the memorial installation for the victims of the October 7 terror attack – a powerful memorial wall displaying the photos and names of those murdered and of fallen IDF soldiers, as part of the national commemoration project led by the Library.
During the visit, several exceptional items were presented to the President, including the 1585 Cloverleaf Map – a symbolic world map printed in Hanover, depicting Jerusalem at the center of the world.
President Herzog was also shown a letter from Esther Goldberg Herzog (his grandfather’s sister), dated October 12, 1942, in which she implored the Chief Rabbi of Nazi-occupied Paris to help secure the release of her daughter held by the Nazis. In addition, a photo was displayed of the Sixth President of Israel, Chaim Herzog, visiting the Library in the 1980s.
President Steinmeier was shown the “Worms Mahzor,” one of the earliest Ashkenazi prayer books in existence, which had been hidden during the Holocaust. As well as photographs from the 1960 visit of West Germany’s first President, Theodor Heuss, to the National Library and other points of interest.
At the end of the tour, they passed through the installation titled “Every Hostage Has Their Own Story” before leaving the building. The exhibition is composed of empty chairs, each bearing the photograph of a hostage alongside a carefully chosen book that represents their personal story.
Outside, the tour concluded with an explanation of the letter sculptures in the landscaped gardens of the new National Library of Israel. If the sun were shining, the shadows would have been in the shape of the Hebrew letters.
The visit coincides with 60 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany. President Steinmeier noted he was deeply moved by the historical documents that continue to link the two nations.
The photo essay includes various images of the presidential tour, library emptied of the regular readers and workers for the afternoon tour, and a close-up of the Shem Tov Chumash and the Toldot Yaalov Yosef on display.
