Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Sep
19
Tue
Salonique, Jérusalem des Balkans, 1870-1920 @ Museum of Art and History of Judaism, Paris
Sep 19 2023 – Apr 21 2024 all-day
Salonique, Jérusalem des Balkans, 1870-1920 @ Museum of Art and History of Judaism, Paris | Paris | Île-de-France | France

Presenting a selection of nearly 150 pieces from various sources, this photographic exhibition recreates the history of Salonika (today Thessaloniki) Greece from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the First World War. Men and women are captured in their traditional costumes: modest artisans, porters, traders, members of the local “aristocracy;” society is revealed. Urban modernization is also shown: the quays and the White Tower, cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues; the Countryside sector where the notables established their residence; deprived areas, where emerging industries were established.

But also, in the now Greek city, the great fire of August 1917, an authentic trauma for the Jews who saw their historic neighborhoods, the municipal archives and more than thirty synagogues swept away by the flames, before the geopolitical upheavals caused by the First War worldwide.

 

Jan
14
Sun
The “Burning” Exhibit of Papercuts by Monika Krajewska – now in Radom @ Jacek Malczewski Museum, Radom
Jan 14 – Apr 30 all-day
The "Burning" Exhibit of Papercuts by Monika Krajewska - now in Radom @ Jacek Malczewski Museum, Radom

 “Burning,” an exhibition of paper cuts by Monika Krajewska, is now being shown in Radom, following an exhibit at the POLIN museum in Warsaw. We were privileged to host an online exhibition of some of her works in 2020.

The exhibit consists of 31 works in which the artist, using traditional Jewish paper-cutting technique, refers to objects related to the synagogue, painstakingly recreating the symbolism and ornamentation of Jewish art from East-Central Europe—stylised floral decoration, symbolic representations of animals, a repertoire of traditional sacred Jewish symbols (a menorah, Torah and the Tablets of Law, the Temple) and calligraphic quotations from religious texts and prayers.

In order to introduce reflection on loss and destruction, Krajewska subjects her painstaking work to destruction: she tears apart sections of the works after cutting them out and burns the ends of the sheets. She uses tinted paper as a background for the cut-outs, incorporating the motif of fire, ashes and ruins. And she incorporates quotations from religious texts or classics of modern Jewish literature, in which there are references to flames and destruction, as well as to the hope of salvation.

 

 

Jan
25
Thu
Neviditelné synagogy – Invisible Synagogues @ Brána Trojzemí, Hrádek nad Nisou
Jan 25 – Mar 31 all-day
Neviditelné synagogy - Invisible Synagogues @ Brána Trojzemí, Hrádek nad Nisou | Liberecký kraj | Czechia

The latest edition of the exhibit Neviditelné Synagogy — Invisible Synagogues, photographs by Štěpán Bartoš.  

Bartoš photographs the blank spaces in the Czech Republic where destroyed synagogues once stood and adds a ghostly silhouette of the destroyed synagogue to the exhibition photos of the places where they once stood.

On the Invisible Synagogues project web site (which is in German and Czech) you can see galleries of his photos, without the added silhouette, arranged according to region. They include sites in big cities, small towns, and tiny villages; there are fields and rural spaces as well as modern buildings, crowded city streets, and even artificial lakes.

Read our November 2021 post about his Invisible Synagogues project.

 

Mar
1
Fri
Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival @ Jewish Museum Frankfufrt
Mar 1 – Sep 1 all-day
Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival @ Jewish Museum Frankfufrt | Frankfurt am Main | Hessen | Germany

A multimedia exhibition by the artist, architect and historian Natalia Romik dedicated to the creativity of Polish Jews seeking to survive the Shoah in hiding.

In Poland and Ukraine during World War II, approximately 50,000 people survived persecution by the German occupying forces in hiding. The majority of them were Jewish. They found refuge in tree hollows, closets, basements, sewers, empty graves, and other precarious locations. Natalia Romik’s exhibition “Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival” pays tribute to these fragile places of refuge and explores their physicality. The show poses basic questions about the relationship between architecture, private life, and the public sphere: it addresses the protective function of spaces and emphasizes the creativity those in hiding brought to bear in their attempt to survive.

In a research project extending over several years, Natalia Romik and an interdisciplinary team of researchers consulted oral histories to identify several hiding places, which they explored using forensic methods. The multimedia exhibition “Hideouts. The Architecture of Survival” presents the results of this research. It consists of sculptures bearing a direct connection to the sites and includes documentary films, forensic recordings, photos, documents, and objects found in the hiding places.

“Hideouts: The Architecture of Survival” is presented in cooperation with the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and the TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin. On the occasion of the show at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, a catalogue will be published in German and English editions by Hatje Cantz Verlag.

The exhibition was curated by Kuba Szreder and Stanisław Ruksza with the help of Aleksandra Janus (scientific collaboration). For the presentation in Frankfurt, Katja Janitschek, curator of the Judengasse Museum, was responsible for the curatorial project management. We would like to thank the Evonik Foundation for their generous support.

 

Mar
29
Fri
Jews in 20th Century Italy @ National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah
Mar 29 – Oct 6 all-day

The  exhibit showcases Italian Jewish experience in the 20th century, beginning with the destruction of the ghettos at the end of the 19th century, through the Shoah, and up until almost the present day.

It includes contemporary artworks; photographs from public and private archives; historical documents, and family objects. 

Tempio Maggiore, Great Synagogue, Rome,
Tempio Maggiore, Great Synagogue, Rome, built in 1904 after the opening of the Ghetto

 

Apr
2
Tue
Houses of Eternity – Domy wieczności @ Płońsk Memorial House
Apr 2 – Jun 9 all-day
Houses of Eternity - Domy wieczności @ Płońsk Memorial House | Płońsk | Mazowieckie | Poland

An exhibition about Jewish cemeteries, prepared by the Galicia Jewish Museum.

In many places throughout Poland, Jewish cemeteries or what remains of them are the only visible sign of the centuries-long presence of Jewish communities in a given area. The exhibition “Houses of Eternity” is a reflection on what Jewish cemeteries mean to us today and an attempt to find an answer to the question of what we can learn from them. Its aim is to introduce the topic of Jewish cemeteries to the widest possible audience, help understand how important an element of cultural heritage the preserved Jewish cemeteries are and answer a number of questions related to cemeteries in the context of Jewish history and tradition.

The opening is at 1 p.m., April 2

Apr
5
Fri
House of Eternity – Haus del Ewigkeit @ Capa-Haus Leipzig
Apr 5 – May 26 all-day
House of Eternity - Haus del Ewigkeit @ Capa-Haus Leipzig | Leipzig | Sachsen | Germany
The latest exhibit of black and white photographs from  70 Jewish cemeteries in Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, by by Marcel-Th. and Klaus Jacobs.
 
Short texts explain the local conditions and the backgrounds of the visited cemeteries.
 
An exhibition by the cultural association “Circle of friends for the preservation of Jewish cemeteries in the Central European cultural space, e.V.” in cooperation with CAPA Culture gGmbH.
 
The exhibit opening is April 4, at 7 pm.
 
Hours are:
 
Tuesday-Friday 11am-4pm (except holidays)
as well as Sunday the 21st April and 19th May 2024 11am to 4pm
 

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