In the summer of 1957, even before diplomatic relations were officially established between Germany and Israel (1965), students in the German-Israeli Study Group at Freie Universität wrote a letter to the president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They wanted to initiate academic ties between the Hebrew University and Freie Universität Berlin. The German-Israeli Study Group at Freie Universität was founded in 1957 and was the first of its kind to be founded in the Federal Republic of Germany. Soon similar groups were also founded in other West German university cities.

The Institute of Jewish Studies founded in 1963 at Freie Universität Berlin was the first of its kind in Germany. It was established in connection with the appointment of Jacob Taubes to a professorial chair at Freie Universität. Taubes was a philosopher and Jewish studies scholar as well as a sociologist who specialized in religion. He had previously taught at Columbia University in New York.

In 2015, to mark fifty years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, Freie Universität Berlin organized numerous conferences and workshops together with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in cooperation with other Israeli universities.

• Article “Airmail to Jerusalem”
• Website of the Department of History and Cultural Studies
• Website of Freie Universität marking fifty years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel