Through the commitment of Halberstadt citizens, who had organized themselves since 1990 in the “Association for the Preservation and Further Development of Jewish Heritage in Halberstadt and the Surrounding Area”, the Moses Mendelssohn Academy Foundation Halberstadt (MMA) was established in 1996. The founder was the Berlin-based Dipl. Kfm. Manfred Wolff, who has a special relationship with the city and its Jewish history through his friendship with Raphael Nussbaum, a native of Halberstadt. Prof. Dr. Julius H. Schoeps was and is the spiritus rector for the content-related orientation.

The first goal of the foundation was to save the former Jewish community center of Halberstadt. These include the “Klaus,” i.e. the former Jewish teaching house with synagogue, in Rosenwinkel, the cantor’s house in Bakenstraße with the site of the destroyed Baroque synagogue behind it, and the ritual immersion bath (mikveh) in Judenstraße. With the support of model city funds, funds from the Federal Environmental Foundation and private funds, the buildings will be restored in the period 1997 – 2002. The use of the buildings is intended to provide knowledge about the basics of Judaism and European-Jewish history and culture.

The Moses Mendelssohn Academy Foundation has owned the above-mentioned properties since 1996.

Beyond saving the buildings, the foundation’s goal is to research and make visible Halberstadt’s rich Jewish heritage, which has evolved over centuries after receiving little recognition since the community’s extermination in Nazi Germany.

The mediation takes place in a variety of ways: Lectures, city walks, study tours, theater, film and concert performances, publications and exhibitions. In addition, the Moses Mendelssohn Academy Foundation organizes scientific conferences, workshops, and meetings/cooperations as a meeting and conference center, such as the school partnership between the Landesmusikgymnasium Sachsen – Anhalt in Wernigerode and the Academy for Music and Dance in Jerusalem.

In 2001, the MMA founded the Berend Lehmann Museum of Jewish History and Culture in the former ritual Jewish immersion bath (Mikwenhaus) at Judenstraße 25/26.

In 2021, the Moses Mendelssohn Academy signs a cooperation agreement with the Harz University of Applied Sciences. Since then, Prof. Dr. Angela Kolb-Janssen has been the appointed director of the Moses Mendelssohn Academy.