We are mourning the death of Bernhard Purin, an old friend and one of the most active and influential Jewish museum and heritage professionals in Europe.
He passed away unexpectedly last week in Munich, where he served as the director of the Munich Jewish Museum. Born in Bregenz, in the far west of Austria, on October 6, 1963, he was 60 years old.
“There are no instructions on how to write an obituary for a friend. You can only try,” Barbara Staudinger, the Director of the Vienna Jewish Museum, wrote in a highly personal obituary that recalled Bernhard’s role as a colleague and mentor.
Purin studied at the University of Tübingen, Germany and had a long career in Jewish museum development and innovative curatorial work in Austria and Germany.
He worked on the development of the Jewish Museum in Hohenems, Austria, in 1990-91, and was a curator at the Jewish Museum in Vienna from 1992 to 1995. He then went on to be the founding director of the Jewish Museum of Franconia, which opened in two locations — in Schnaittach and Fürth — in 1996 and 1999.
In 2003 took up the position as the founding director of the Jewish Museum of Munich, which opened in 2007 in the new downtown complex that also includes a modern synagogue and Jewish community building.
He was active in the Association of European Jewish Museums and published widely, with works focusing on looted art, museum studies, Jewish culture, and ritual objects.
“Everyone who knew Bernhard Purin is stunned by the fact that he is no longer with us,” his colleagues said in an obituary released by the Munich Museum. “We will miss his unerring judgment and humor, his loyalty and friendship, his integrity, his deep knowledge and his unusual and surprising approaches to the world of Jewish object history.”
In Munich, in addition to his Museum role, Purin was part of the team that designed the striking Munich 1972 Massacre Memorial commemorating the Palestinian Black September terrorist attack at the Munich summer Olympics that left 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, and one German police officer, dead (as well as several of the terrorists). The Memorial was dedicated in 2017 on the 45th anniversary of the attack.
“Memory needs a place,” Bernhard stressed not long after the monument opened, when he guided us through the memorial.
His memory is already a blessing to his many friends and colleagues, including us at JHE. May his soul be bound up in the bond of life.
Read our 2017 post about the Munich Massacre Memorial
4 comments on “Germany: RIP Bernhard Purin 1963-2024. Founding Director of the Munich Jewish Museum; longtime Jewish museum and heritage activist”
Rest in Peace.
Viel zu früh – unvollendet – immer bleibend.
זיכרונו לברכה
תהי נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
שלום
Bernhard Purin: Ish eshkolot … chaval al d’avdin … sikhrono livrakha …
a lovely tribute