Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Oct
3
Thu
Commemoration of architect of synagogue @ former synagogue, St. Polten, Austria
Oct 3 @ 17:30 – 20:30
Commemoration of architect of synagogue @ former synagogue, St. Polten, Austria | Sankt Pölten | Niederösterreich | Austria

A commemoration of Theodor Schreier, the architect of the synagogue in St. Pölten, will include the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to the architect and his wife — both Holocaust victims who died in the Terezin ghetto/camp north of Prague — and a memorial symphonic concert featuring the music of Brahms, Bloch, Dvorak, Janacek, and Schulhoff.

The synagogue is now the home of the Institut für jüdische Geschichte Österreichs — Institute for Austrian Jewish History.

 

 

Mar
1
Sun
Guided tour @ Great Synagogue Beth Yaacov, Geneva
Mar 1 @ 10:30 – 12:00

On the first Sunday of each month, there is a guided tour of the synagogue, an imposing domed building designed in predominantly Moorish style  by the Swiss architect Jean-Henri Bachofen and built in 1857-59.

 

Click for further information

 

Mar
23
Mon
Reusing Churches. New Perspectives in a European Comparison @ Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover
Mar 23 – Mar 25 all-day

Experts from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Great Britain will meet for a Herrenhausen Symposium at Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover to discuss the issue of reusing church buildings from a European comparative view. The intention is to develop new perspectives.

See details and program at web site

 

Jun
17
Wed
Old Jewish quarter tour @ Eisenstadt, Austria
Jun 17 @ 10:30 – 11:30
Old Jewish quarter tour @ Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

 

Curator Christopher Meiller leads a tour to the Jewish quarter including the former community synagogue and the two Jewish cemeteries.

  • Registration is mandatory up to 2 days before the event, limited number of participants (by phone: +43 (0) 2682 65145 or by E-mail: info@ojm.at).
  • If there is a high demand, the events / tours / tours will be repeated.
  • Free donation.
  • Please take your own mouth and nose protection with you (for use where required by the authorities).
  •  
Jun
23
Tue
Jewish cemeteries tours @ Eisenstadt, Austria
Jun 23 @ 18:00 – 20:00
Jewish cemeteries tours @ Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

There are two Jewish cemeteries and two tours — the Old Jewish Cemetery at 6 p.m. and the New Jewish Cemetery at 7 p.m. You can register for one or both.

In the old Jewish cemetery the oldest gravestone goes back to the year 1679. The cemetery was used until the summer of 1875. The new Jewish cemetery was established in fall of 1875 as the “successor cemetery” to the older one and was used until 1938. In just a few unusual cases, there were burials after 1945.

Registration is mandatory up to 2 days before the event, limited number of participants (by phone: +43 (0) 2682 65145 or by E-mail: info@ojm.at).

Sep
7
Mon
House of Life opens @ Willesden Jewish Cemetery, London
Sep 7 all-day
House of Life opens @ Willesden Jewish Cemetery, London | England | United Kingdom

Willesden Jewish Cemetery reopens as multifaceted place of public heritage — the House of Life: an example of how Jewish cemeteries can be integrated into tourism while respecting the sanctity of the place

If offers guided tours, lectures, an exhibit in a new visitors’ center, and other public programming.

It respects its sanctity as a burial site but enables visitors to explore Jewish history and heritage, as well as learn about the lives of the many Jewish personalities buried there and engage with issues related to death, funeral traditions, and funerary art.

See cemetery web site for more details — http://www.willesdenjewishcemetery.org.uk

Click to read our article about it

 

Oct
6
Tue
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria
Oct 6 @ 15:00 – 15:45
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

Guided tour of the Wertheimer synagogue, accessible as part of the Austrian Jewish Museum. Dedicated to Jewish life in the province of Burgenland, the museum opened in 1982 in the former mansion of Samson Wertheimer (1659-1724). The private synagogue is part of the mansion.

Wertheimer had a prominent role at the Viennese court, where from 1694 to 1709 he worked for emperors Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI as Hofoberfaktor or chief administrator of financial affairs. He also served the Esterhazy family in Burgenland and was Rabbi of Hungary and Moravia.

A mob destroyed Eisenstadt’s main synagogue on Kristallnacht in 1938 but the they overlooked the  Wertheimer Shul,  hidden in the mansion. The synagogue was re-consecrated for Jewish worship in 1979.

In its current form the synagogue dates almost entirely from 1832, having been refurbished after the Eisenstadt ghetto was badly damaged in a fire of 1795. Its design includes many elements typical of the period, including a high ceiling and a chandelier hanging from a painted rosette. At the inauguration of the building in 1834, members of the community contributed ceremonial silver, a painted glass beaker for the Hevrah Kadisha (Burial Society), Torah scrolls, an elaborate Parohet (Ark curtain) and a parchment Megillah (Scroll of the Book of Esther) executed by the scribe Elie Gabriel, all of which are among the items displayed in the museum today.

 

Oct
7
Wed
Jewish cemetery guided tour @ Jewish cemeteries, Eisenstadt, Austria
Oct 7 @ 20:00 – 21:15
Jewish cemetery guided tour @ Jewish cemeteries, Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

A nighttime tour of the Old and New Jewish cemeteries, in Eisenstadt. Bring a flashlight!

Of the older cemetery, in used from 1679 to 1874, can be considered one of the most important Jewish cemeteries in Europe. The newer cemetery, used until 1938, tells stories about the last decades of Jewish life in Eisenstadt.

 

 

Oct
8
Thu
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria
Oct 8 @ 15:00 – 15:45
Synagogue guided tour @ Wertheimer synagogue, Eisenstadt, Austria | Eisenstadt | Burgenland | Austria

Guided tour of the Wertheimer synagogue, accessible as part of the Austrian Jewish Museum. Dedicated to Jewish life in the province of Burgenland, the museum opened in 1982 in the former mansion of Samson Wertheimer (1659-1724). The private synagogue is part of the mansion.

Wertheimer had a prominent role at the Viennese court, where from 1694 to 1709 he worked for emperors Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI as Hofoberfaktor or chief administrator of financial affairs. He also served the Esterhazy family in Burgenland and was Rabbi of Hungary and Moravia.

A mob destroyed Eisenstadt’s main synagogue on Kristallnacht in 1938 but the they overlooked the  Wertheimer Shul,  hidden in the mansion. The synagogue was re-consecrated for Jewish worship in 1979.

In its current form the synagogue dates almost entirely from 1832, having been refurbished after the Eisenstadt ghetto was badly damaged in a fire of 1795. Its design includes many elements typical of the period, including a high ceiling and a chandelier hanging from a painted rosette. At the inauguration of the building in 1834, members of the community contributed ceremonial silver, a painted glass beaker for the Hevrah Kadisha (Burial Society), Torah scrolls, an elaborate Parohet (Ark curtain) and a parchment Megillah (Scroll of the Book of Esther) executed by the scribe Elie Gabriel, all of which are among the items displayed in the museum today.

 

Apr
20
Tue
“Judapest”: Austria-Hungary and its Jews at the Fin-de-Siècle @ Online Zoom event
Apr 20 @ 18:00 – 19:30
"Judapest": Austria-Hungary and its Jews at the Fin-de-Siècle @ Online Zoom event

Lecture by Michael Miller, of CEU

Budapest is sometimes called the “Paris of the East,” but in the 1890s, it acquired a new, less flattering nickname: “Judapest.” Karl Lueger, the antisemitic mayor of Vienna – who hated Hungarians more than he hated Jews – is often credited with coining this derogatory nickname for a city that he thought had become more “Jewish” than “Hungarian.”  Budapest was Europe’s fastest-growing city at the time, with a flurry of cultural and commercial activity that fascinated — and sometimes appalled — contemporary residents and visitors. This talk will examine the image of Budapest in the decades before and after the First World War, exploring the ways in which Hungary’s capital city was imagined by Jews and non-Jews alike as a quintessentially Jewish metropolis.

The evening will be chaired by Professor Mark E. Smith, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton. It will be hosted by Professor Mark Cornwall (University of Southampton, Parkes Institute)

The event will be held on Zoom. Please register by Monday 19th April 16:00 here:

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/parkes/news/events/2021/04/20-parkes-lecture-2021.page

Speaker biography: Michael L. Miller is Associate Professor in the Nationalism Studies Program at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and co-founder of the university’s Jewish Studies program. He received his PhD in History from Columbia University, where he specialized in Jewish and Central European History. Michael’s research focuses on the impact of nationality conflicts on the religious, cultural, and political development of Central European Jewry in the long nineteenth century. His articles have appeared in Slavic Review, Austrian History Yearbook, Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook, Múlt és Jövő , The Jewish Quarterly Review and AJS Review. Miller’s book, Rabbis and Revolution: The Jews of Moravia in the Age of Emancipation, was published by Stanford University Press in 2011. It appeared in Czech translation as Moravští Židé v době emancipace (Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2015). He is currently working on a history of Hungarian Jewry, titled Manovill: A Tale of Two Hungarys.

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