Our Collections

“Telling stories with objects” is a guiding principle of all our collections. This can take shape through extraordinary individual items or through groups of various objects, images, artworks, and documents. This is how we shed light on the lives of German Jews and Jews in Germany.

Objects in Our Collection

Our collections currently encompass about 9,500 works of art, 1,000 objects of applied art, 1,500 objects of religious use, 4,500 objects of material culture, 24,000 photographs, more than 1,700 individual collections in the Archive, and approximately 11,000 volumes in the Library’s historical holdings.

The objects in our collection illustrate Jewish culture and history, provide material for research, and last but certainly not least, to commemorate the people whose stories they tell.

Family Collections

At the heart of our collection are bequests from families. These include all manner of images, objects, and documents. Together, they paint a lively portrait of private, professional, and religious life. The family collections were preserved through persecution and emigration and donated to the museum by heirs from all around the world.

Historical Emphases

Most of the objects in our collections date from the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. They document middle-class life and the onset of the modern age as well experiences of persecution and emigration. Berlin is a focus, but as a Jewish Museum for all of Germany, we also seek objects from other regions and other eras and objects relating to other themes.

As we expand the collection over the coming years, we are especially interested in the time period from 1945 to the present. We would be delighted if you helped us add interesting objects to the collection. Make us an offer or donate to our support organization, Friends of the Jewish Museum Berlin.

black and white model of a living room — Detail from Living Room 1 by Maya Zack. The computer-generated visualizations of the series Living Room (2009) are based on narrated memories and show the living room of a Jewish family in the 1930s; Jewish Museum Berlin.

Inka Bertz
Curator of Art
T +49 (0)30 259 93 414
i.bertz@jmberlin.de

Address

Jewish Museum Berlin
Lindenstraße 9–14
10969 Berlin

How can I donate objects, photographs, and documents to the museum?

If you would like to support the Jewish Museum Berlin and believe you possess materials that may be of interest to us, contact us!

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How can I conduct research using the museum’s archive, collections, and library?

Our Reading Room is open to the public. You can also research using our library’s holdings and some of our collection’s holdings online. To view additional holdings, please contact the responsible curators.

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I would like to depict or borrow an object from your collections. Who should I contact?

Your contacts for photo permissions are Valeska Wolfgram and Birgit Maurer-Porat (T +49 (0)30 259 93 433, email: fotodoku@jmberlin.de). Loan requests must be made at least six months in advance. For questions regarding administrative processes, please contact Katrin Strube (T +49 (0)30 259 93 417, email: k.strube@jmberlin.de).

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Behind the Scenes: Anecdotes and Exciting Finds while Working with our Collections (21)

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