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A woman is sitting at her loom.

Defiance

Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era
Exhibition

The exhibition is the first to honor the work of German-Jewish crafts­women who, during a time marked by exclusion and upheaval, forged their own paths. It presents the lives and works of more than 60 Jewish female designers and demon­strates how they over­came societal barriers to fight for change and visibility — and how they paved the way for other women in the process. 

11 Jul to 23 Nov 2025

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The Old Building is marked in green

Where

Old Building, level 1
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin

Montage of a historic photo featuring a woman in a workshop and an object image.

Defiance: Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era

Exhibition Webpage
Current page: Defiance: Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era (11 Jul to 23 Nov 2025): Insights and information about the exhibition's topics
Accompanying Events
Exhibition Opening: Thu, 10 Jul 2025, 7 pm (exhibition open to visitors from 5 pm)
Pioneering women of the 1920s – artistic research from the Modeschule Berlin at the JMB: Public presenation, Thu 17 Jul 2025
Summer Party at the JMB with free admission, workshops and more – Sun, 20 Jul 2025, 2 pm
Creative Love! Long Night of Museums – Sun, 30 Aug 2025, starting 6 pm
Publications
Exhibition catalog: 2025, in German
Guided Tours
Public Tour in German: Sun 13 Jul, 10 Aug & 28 Sep 2025, 11 am
Public Tour in English: Sat 2 Aug & 6 Sep 2025, 3 pm
Guided Tour & Brunch: Sun 27 Jul, 24 Aug & 14 Sep 2025, 10.15 am
Bookable Tour for Groups and Schools: Tour by appointment
Digital Content
Puppet Show, Menu Card, Children's Book: Digital copies accompanying the exhibition (in German)
Do you know Eva Samuel?: How the research for the exhibition took off
See also
Jewish Women Ceramists from Germany after 1933: Online feature on Google Arts & Culture, in German

Exhibition Information at a Glance

  • When 11 Jul to 23 Nov 2025
  • Entry Fee 10 €, reduced 4 €
    Online tickets will be available soon.  
  • Where Libeskind-Bau 1. OG
    Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
    See Location on Map

Credits

Director  

Hetty Berg

Management  

Lars Bahners (Verwaltung), Julia Friedrich (Sammlung), Barbara Thiele (Vermittlung und Digitales)

Executive Assistants and Aides

Milena Fernando, Mathias Groß, Vera von Lehsten, Eva Weinreich

Curator

Michal S. Friedlander

Curatorial Advisor  

Martina Lüdicke

Exhibition Manager  

Deniz Roth

Project Assistant

Julia Dellith

Student Assistant

Laura Schummers

Voluntary Service

Finn Ferschke, Luise Orth

Head of Exhibitions

Nina Schallenberg

Collection Managemet

Katharina Wippermann (Leitung), Ulrike Gast (Registrar), Iris Blochel-Dittrich, Birgit Maurer-Porat, Valeska Wolfgram (Dokumentation)

Conservators

Barbara Decker, Stephan Lohrengel (paper), Rüdiger Tertel (metal), Ava Hermann, Ines Zimmermann (textile)

Exhibition Design (concept, architectur, graphic design, production management)

Anschlaege.de, Studio for Design

Marketing Campaign

Visual Space Agency, Julia Volkmar
Studio Bens, Jens Ludewig

Exhibition Texts and Copyediting

Michal S. Friedlander (texts), Martina Lüdicke, Marie Naumann, Katharina Wulffius (editing), Henriette Kolb, Anika Reichwald (copyediting) 

Translationand and Translation Copyediting

Allison Brown (German-English), Michael Ebmeyer, Tanja Klapp (English-German), Kate Sturge (copyediting English) 

Exhibition Construction

spreeDesign

Art Handling  

Fißler & Kollegen GmbH

Media Planning and Installation  

Eidotech  

Painter

Lazar Malermeister GmbH

Graphic Production

Atelier Köbbert  

Audio Production

Studio Platzhalter  

Exhibition Lighting  

Victor Kégli

Electrician  

Apleona GmbH

Education and Communication

Diana Dressel (Department head), Nina Wilkens

Accompanying Programme  

Daniel Wildmann (Department head), Signe Rossbach (Event curator), Maria Röger, Shlomit Tripp, Katja Vathke

Archive

Aubrey Pomerance (Department head), Franziska Bogdanov, Ulrike Neuwirth 

Library  

Monika Sommerer (Department head), Bernhard Jensen, Theresa Polley, Ernst Wittmann

Marketing and Communication

Sandra Hollmann (Department head), Ha Van Dinh, Melanie Franke, Julia Jürgens, Margret Karsch, Katrin Möller, Amelie Neumayr

Digital and Publishing

Steffen Jost (Department head), Marie Naumann, Katharina Wulffius (Catalogue), Marina Brafa (Website), Debora Antmann, David Studniberg, Charlotte Struck (Jewish Places), Lea Simon (Research trainee)

Visitor Experience and Research

Christiane Birkert (Department head), Susann Holz, Johannes Rinke

Development

Anja Butzek (Department head), Sarah Winter

FREUNDE DES JMB  

Johanna Brandt (management)

Events

Yvonne Niehues (Department head), Juliane Ganzer, Katja Rein, Falk Schneider, Danny Specht-Eichler, Gesa Struve

Legal Department and Tendering

Julia Lietzmann (Department head), Sascha Brejora, Olaf Heinrich, Jonas Nondorf

Finance and Controlling  

Grit Schleheider (Department head), Odette Bütow, Rainer Christoffers, Andreas Harm, Denise Kurby, Cindy Niepold, Stefan Rosin, Katja Schwarzer

Human Resources

Brit Linde-Pelz (Department head), Manuela Gümüssoy, Lilith Wendt

Facility Management

Manuela Konzack (Department head), Guido Böttcher, Mirko Dalsch, André Küter, Marcel Kühle, Janine Lehmann, Christian Michaelis, Jan Viegils

ICT

Michael Concepcion (Leitung), Anja Jauert, Kathleen Köhler, Sebastian Nadler

Exhibition Maintenance

Leitwerk Servicing

Janitor Service

FAM

Cleaning  

Piepenbrock Reinigung GmbH

Sercurity

Kötter Security SE 

Sponsors

With funding provided by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds. 

We also thank the David Berg Foundation for their kind support. 

Logo Hauptstadtkulturfonds Black letters on white background reading David Berg Foundation.

Media Cooperations

Logo of the public broadcaster “radio3 rbb”. Yellow three on a black circle, next to it white letters on a red background. Logo of the Yorck Cinema Group: On the left, a black, star-like graphic with a white “Y” on it; on the right, the lettering of the cinema group in black.

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