An annual Jewish culture festival that takes places in several towns in east-central Germany’s Thuringia state, including Erfurt, Jena, Weimar, Eisenach, Gera….
There are concerts, performances, guided tours, “open doors” of synagogues, lectures, and more.
Guided tour of the Small Synagogue, which functioned between 1840 and 1884. It now is a Jewish museum.
Here’s the history of the synagogue from the web site https://juedisches-leben.erfurt.de/jl/en/19-century/small_synagogue/index.html
On 10 July 1840 the Jewish community consecrated the Small Synagogue. It was used as a house of worship for only 44 years, until 1884, since the community was growing fast in the 19th century. The community built the Great Synagogue at today’s Juri-Gagarin-Ring and sold the Small Synagogue to a merchant. He used the house as a storage facility and production building. In 1918 the municipality installed apartments. Interest in the Jewish heritage grew in the 1980s. The town had the building history of the synagogue researched and the building restored. Building researchers found the mikveh as well as the Torah shrine and the women’s balcony. So the prayer hall presents itself today in the almost original condition. The Small Synagogue serves today as a meeting centre and shows an exhibition on Jewish life in Erfurt in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A tour of the permanent exhibition Jewish history and heritage in the Old Synagogue, Essen.
The exhibition has five different subject areas: “sources of Jewish tradition; Jewish festivals; the Jewish way of life; the history of the building; and the history of the Jewish community in Essen.
Registration is not required, by visitors must wear face masks and maintain social distance rules.
Aside from the tour, the permanent exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
(The featured photo is by Baikonur, via wikimedia commons CC BY-SA 3.0)
Guided tour of the synagogue on Roonstrasse, Cologne, the only surviving synagogue of the five that once stood in the city.
Tickets must be booked here — https://www.koelnticket.de/exklusive+f%c3%bchrung+j%c3%bcdische+synagoge+nur+buchbar+%c3%bcber+die+hotline+02212801+neues+datum-ticket-67/?evid=2334775&referer_info=hl&tId=&pageId=67
Jewish culture festival, with concerts, guided tours of the synagogue and Jewish cemetery, and more. The synagogue in Gröbzig is now a Jewish museum.
Click here to download a pdf of the program
A Zoom seminar about the project to restore the Jewish cemetery of Gorizia, Italy, that now lies across the border outside Nova Gorica, Slovenia. The twin cities will jointly be the European Cultural Capital in 2025, with their shared Jewish heritage playing a role. In Italian
Click here for details and to register
Read our 2017 article about the shared Jewish heritage of the towns
Read an Italian perspective about the project
A conference looking at the handling of Jewish cemeteries on both sides of the border between Germany and Poland — both in communist East Germany and Poland after WW2 and since 1989 in post-reunification Germany and post-communist Poland. Register by November 2.
Program
Welcome: Dr. Peter Bahl, State Historical Association for the Mark Brandenburg eV, and Dr. Magdalena Gebala, German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe eV
Introductory presentation On the situation of the Jewish cemeteries in the Soviet Zone and the GDR, Dr. Monika Schmidt, Berlin
Presentation of the project Jewish cemeteries in Poland in the areas of the former province of Brandenburg, Dr. Magdalena Abraham-Diefenbach and Dr. des. Anke Geißler-Grünberg, both Frankfurt (Oder)
Documentary film Jewish cemeteries in Poland , director: Dietmar Barsig, 2009, 4:05 min., Broadcast in Kulturzeit on November 18, 2009; with the kind permission of ZDF
Followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Magdalena Abraham-Diefenbach, Dr. des. Anke Geißler-Grünberg, Dr. Monika Schmidt and Andrzej Kirmiel, director of the Museum of the Meseritzer Land, Międzyrzecz / Meseritz
Moderation: Dr. Peter Bahl
The event will be held in German and Polish and will be interpreted.
Important NOTE
Limited places. To participate in the event, a confirmed registration up to and including Tuesday, November 2, 2021 by email to ger.wei@web.de (preferred) or on the telephone number (030) 413 82 19 (with AB) is necessary. Proof of COVID vaccination is required to enter. A minimum distance of 1.5 m must be maintained. Wearing an OP or FFP2 mask is mandatory for all participants.
A cooperative event between the Chair for Monument Studies at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), the Chair for Modern History (German-Jewish History) at the University of Potsdam , the State Historical Association for the Mark Brandenburg eV and the German Cultural Forum Eastern Europe eV
The picture shows: Broken tombstone in the Jewish cemetery in Drossen / Ośno Lubuskie, 2021, © Peggy Lohse
The multi-day event “Mapping Memories” revolves around the violently suppressed traces of Frankfurt’s Judengasse from public space. At its center is a pop-up exhibition in the Museum Judengasse with archaeological finds from the time of Europe’s oldest Jewish ghetto; also an artistic intervention in the current form of the historic site.
The exhibition, with archaeological finds that were recovered from Börneplatz – formerly the southern part of the Judengasse ghetto – in 1987, will be held in the atrium of the Museum Judengasse.
It opens at 18:00 on April 13 — to attend, register with anmeldung@metahubfrankfurt.de
The exhibition is a cooperation with the Archaeological Museum Frankfurt.
It shows archaeological finds that were recovered in 1987 at Börneplatz, at the place where they were found at the time. It presents ongoing research and new insights into the everyday culture of Jews in early modern Frankfurt. The archaeological finds come both from the cellars of the Judengasse and from ditches for water supply and disposal.
The annual conference of the Association of European Jewish Museums.
There will be more than 60 events including readings, concerts, lectures, tours, workshops and film screenings, held in 14 different towns and cities in the German state of Thuringia.
The full program can be found HERE from January 30, 2024.
The Jewish Community of the state of Thuringia runs the festival together with the Support Association for Jewish-Israeli Culture in Thuringia e.V.
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