Biannual meeting of coordinators of the European Day of Jewish Culture and annual meeting of the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ).
The annual European Day (or Days) of Jewish Culture kicks off September 1st.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the event — which takes place in hundreds of locations all over Europe.
JHE Director Ruth Ellen Gruber took part in the meeting in Paris in 1999 that established the EDJC, and she will be writing about it in a post on the web site.
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 for the first time from a European comparative view. The intention is to develop new perspectives.
The target audience are persons responsible in church, monument preservation and politics, academics, members of educational institutions and all those interested in the topic. The symposium addresses an expanded public, convinced that churches are public buildings that ultimately belong to the public. An important aspect of the symposium is the involvement of young scientists and young professionals as well as society stakeholders or volunteers that are active in this field.
The discussions have relevance also for the adaptive reuse of synagogue buildings.
Click here to see details and program
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).
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).
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.
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.
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.
This international conference aims to explore the Jewish experience in Sommerfrische (Summer holiday) destinations, summer resorts, and spas, focusing on the particular urban processes that led to their emergence and the factors that transformed them into spaces of possibility in a rural or small-town context.
JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber will speak about “Those Who Stayed (and One Who Came Back” about Jewish cemeteries in health resort towns, focusing on Merano/Merano, Italy.
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