Heike A. Grunewald M.A.

Heike Grunewald studied Applied Economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen from 1988 to 1993, majoring in the “Middle East” special field.

She has been heading the administration of the IGdJ since 2022. She has many years of experience in administrating foundations in leading positions in Germany and abroad. Her professional experience includes several years serving for the Jerusalem branch of Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In Hamburg, she first worked as an academic aide in the Hamburg Parliament and then as a personal assistant to the President of the Department of Culture. She has gathered several years of practical experience in the Hamburg public administration. Serving as Executive Director, she established on a national and international level two renowned Hamburg foundations.

Heike Grunewald has been committed to strengthening German-Israeli relations for 30 years. This commitment runs like a thread through her life, both professionally and privately. She has been a member of the German-Israeli Society since 1999. During this time, she has served in an honorary capacity as vice president at the federal level and as chair of the Hamburg German Israeli Society (DIG – Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft).

From 2018 to 2024, she worked as an advisor for the Leo Baeck Institute (LBI) Jerusalem. Here, she accompanied the independent Research Institute in a comprehensive Transformation process in its strategic, programmatic, personnel and, above all, financial realignment.
Among others, she is involved in the Association of “German Friends of the University of Haifa”.

Heike Grunewald sees her professional commitment as Head of Administration at the Institute for the History of German Jews as well as her decades of ongoing multifaceted private commitment to building bridges between Germany and Israel as her personal contribution to a "Never again".