Happy Purim!

A dog with an artificial lion skin is sitting on the sidewalk.

Tel Aviv, Purim 2017; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Franziska Schurr

 

Sometimes fate is a matter of drawing lots. The well-being of a minority group in the larger society comes down to politics. Purim, the feast of lots, commemorates a queen who was able to distinguish fate from political intrigue.  continue reading

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Jewrovision 2018

Saturday, 10th of February, in Dresden, with livestream!

The motto of this year’s Jewrovision is THE CIRCLE OF LIFE. More than 60 groups with a total of 1200 members from all over Germany will participate. The jury consists of Daniel Donskoy, Susan Sideropolous, Ben Salomo, and Aaron Altaras.

 Logo: Jewrovision Dresden 2018: The Circle of LifeImportant information about the event at Messe Dresden (Hall 1) – including information on ticket reservations and directions – can be found on the Jewrovision website (in German).

In case you cannot be there in person (unlike our program director): The livestream starts at 8.30 pm.

About Jewrovision

Based on the idea of the Eurovision Song Contest, Jewrovision is not only the largest Jewish singing and dancing competition in Germany, but also in Europe. The first Jewrovision took place in 2002 in Bad Sobernheim. This year, for the first time, the competition takes place in one of the new federal states of Germany. All Jewish children and young people aged ten to nineteen from Germany can participate. Their local Jewish community’s youth center registers them.


Obituary for Coco Schumann

14 May 1924–28 January 2018

Coco Schumann at the multimedia Rafael Roth Learning Center in 2002; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jo Diener

The Jewish Museum Berlin grieves the loss of Coco Schumann. The guitarist and jazz musician passed away last Sunday at the age of ninety-three years old. Coco Schumann frequently performed as part of the Cultural Summer program, and his relationship with the Jewish Museum Berlin reaches back to its founding. For a long time, Coco Schumann’s life story could be retraced in the Rafael Roth Learning Center. It exposed museum visitors to a childhood cut short by National Socialist oppression—and a musical talent that granted young Schumann moments of self-assertion in the Berlin jazz clubs ostracized by the Nazis. This talent would also save his life in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz.

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