The book deals with a historically unique case of international transfer of professional knowledge and techniques in social care and social work. Principles of modern social work were introduced to the Jewish Jishuv (pre-state community) in Palestine largely by German-Jewish welfare experts who immigrated in the 1930s. These social workers, mostly women and trained at the schools for social work in Weimar Germany, used the experiences they had gained in Germany and modified them according to the conditions in Palestine. This book outlines the steps that have led to the establishment of a modern system of social welfare (social policy, social work, social pedagogy) in Germany, in the Jewish community in Germany and finally in Jewish Palestine. The beginning of this process can be traced back to the late nineteenth century and extends to the late 1940s.

Franz-Michael Konrad is Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of Eichstätt- Ingolstadt (Germany). His areas of specialisation are history of education, social work and social pedagogy in Germany and German-Jewish History.