Catalogs

• Edited by Michal Friedlander and Cilly Kugelmann for the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 304 pages with approximately 170 primarily color illustrations
• Format: 18,5 x 27 cm
• Nicolai Publishing House, Berlin 2009
• ISBN: 978-3-8353-0468-0

"Not quite kosher" is a well-known phrase. Lesser known are the religious laws that define whether food is kosher or trefe, i.e., pure or impure. Dietary laws and prohibitions can be found in all religions and all religious cultures. Nutritional taboos, the distinction between pure and impure, the use of edibles in religious ceremonies, and festive dishes are just a few of the aspects which shape our food intake.

The Jewish dietary laws, the kashrut, along with everything else that has anything to do with food in Judaism, are the focus of the book on the exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin. From this angle, it considers comparisons with the other world religions, primarily Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Well-known scholars of religion and culture illustrate the developments and peculiarities of the different religious traditions and how they view food. It ultimately becomes clear that the saying "you are what you eat" also holds true in the religious context: Food promotes identity, be it for a particular group of people or an individual.

"Identities" is the title of one of the eight chapters in the elaborately designed book, in which various authors explore questions concerning "Food and Religion." "Bread and Wine," "Enjoying and Abstaining," and "Paradise" are other aspects the authors consider. Around 170 primarily color illustrations allow further insights into the topic’s rich diversity.

The book’s authors include Peter Heine, Rainer Kampling, Renate Syed, David Kraemer, Doron Rabinovici, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Herman Simon, Ruth Ellen Gruber, and Claudia Roden.

• published by the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 132 pages, approximately 60 illustrations (mostly in color), paperback
• Format: 17,3 x 22 cm
• Wallstein Verlag, 2009
• ISBN: 978-3-8353-0468-0

Beginning with an essay on race hygiene as a leading science of the Nazi regime, the exhibition book covers forced sterilization, the "Kinderfachabteilungen" (Special children’s sections), the T4 campaign – the mass murder of the sick that is seen as the forerun to the genocide of European Jews – and the decentralized murder of the sick in the later stages of the war.

Moreover, the fates of families whose children became victims of Nazi "Euthanasia" and of others who were unable to escape forced sterilization are told with the aid of recently discovered documents, letters, and photos.

The lives of the perpetrators are also considered: The doctors, carers, and helpers who were part of a system that sought to legitimize murder, the majority of whom were able to continue their careers after the war.

• Edited by Aubrey Pomerance commissioned by the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 120 pages, 60 duotone illustrations, hardcover
• Format: 21 x 22,5 cm
• Nicolai Verlag
• ISBN: 978-3-89479-509-23

Born into a family in the business of photography for three generations, Ruth Jacobi began her photographic career in Berlin of the 1920s. Exhibited here for the first time, her recently rediscovered works not only bear witness to the revival of interest photography was experiencing during this epoch, but also to the photographer's intuition and her "ability to read people's faces."

Ruth Jacobi's memories describing her family's history can be found alongside the photographs, painting a very personal picture of the photographer, as sensitive as she was emancipated.

Born in Posen, Ruth Jacobi (1899-1995) received her photographic training at the Lette Photographic Academy in Berlin. Following five years employment at the Berlin family studio, she moved to New York in 1928. An impressive photographic series from this period shows the streets and markets of the Lower East Side, proof as much of the photographer's considerable talent as of her social conscience. At the beginning of the1930s, Ruth Jacobi returned to Berlin before emigrating permanently to the USA in 1935, where she settled with her husband in New York's Queens district.

Throughout her lifetime, Ruth Jacobi walked in her famous sister Lotte's shadow, as her memories published in the book as well as those of her niece Beatrice Trum Hunter testify. This is perhaps why Ruth Jacobi never exhibited her work and why it was forgotten for so long. This book shows a selection of her works - portraits, reportage, travel, and botanical photography - allowing insight into her mastery.

• Edited by Inka Bertz and Michael Dorrmann commissioned by the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main.
• 328 pages, approximately 135 illustrations (mostly in color), paperback
• Format: 18,5 x 27 cm
• Wallstein Verlag, 2008 (German language edition only)
• ISBN: 3-8353-0361-9

Two essays by Dan Diner and Constantin Goschler explore the historical, political, and moral dimensions of confiscation. Seventeen authors, among them experts of international renown such as Michael Bazyler, Patricia Grimsted, Jürgen Lillteicher, and Frank Kuitenbrouwer examine the procedures used by Nazi looting organizations and the often disreputable role of museums, libraries, and art dealers. The first restitutions of cultural artifacts by the Allies just after the war and the restitution procedures of the 1950s and 60s are described, as is the revival of the theme in Europe since the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the Washington conference in 1998. These articles present the facts of the 15 case stories described in detail in the book. They tell of the often intricate paths from "looting" to "restitution." Involved parties such as heirs, lawyers, museum representatives, and politicians have their say in interviews.