Bequests and memorabilia from Jewish families in Germany are a focus of our collections. The Jewish Museum Berlin receives these objects as generous donations from people around the world. The museum is always grateful for offers of new donations that will extend our collections for future exhibits and advance research projects.
Of particular interest are photographs, documents, film clips, paintings and graphic art, sculptures, textiles, ceremonial objects, and three-dimensional objects from material culture.
Contemporary History
For our Contemporary History Collection (more), established in 2015, we seek artifacts of all kinds testifying to Jewish lives in Germany from 1945 to the present.
Specialist and Gray Literature on Jewish Art
For our Library, we are also looking for publications from German-speaking territories on all areas of Jewish art, as well as exhibition catalogs and inventories of Jewish museums and galleries from around the world.
One focus is our collection of gray literature, such as brochures, flyers, and exhibition booklets published by museums, galleries, and other institutions, as well as documents from academic settings.
Working Life
In this area, we are looking for anything relating to:
- Company histories from the textile, cigarette, and other industries
- Merchants, such as salespeople and grocers
- Craftspeople and artisanal food producers
- Professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and journalists
- Scientists, scholars, and artists
- Rabbis, cantors, (religion) teachers, and Jewish community employees
Other subjects of interest:
- Women in the workplace
- "Aryanization" and compensation
- Working life in the post-war period
Jewish Institutions and Jewish Religious and Social Life
In this area, we are interested in:
- Jewish celebrations and festivals, life-cycle rituals such as circumcision, bar and bat mitzvah celebrations, weddings, and funerals
- Domestic festivities and kosher cuisine
- Synagogues and services
- Charitable and fraternal organizations (B’nai B’rith)
- Religious education
- Education of girls and women, Jewish youth groups, students’ fraternities, and sports clubs
- Community life in East and West Germany after 1945
Zionism
- Zionist associations and organizations
- Theodor Herzl and his followers
- Journeys to Palestine
Rural Jewry
- Rural Jewish communities in southern Germany and elsewhere
- The cattle and grain trades
- Peddlers
- Relations with the Christian rural community
If you would like to support our museum and you possess objects that you believe might be of interest to us, we would be thrilled to hear from you. We will need your name, address, and a short description of the objects. Please do not send us any items without prior arrangement.
For literature related to Jewish art
Ernst Wittmann
T +49 (0)30 259 93 562
e.wittmann@jmberlin.de
For all other objects
Aubrey Pomerance
Head of Archives/Leo Baeck Institute
T +49 (0)30 259 93 556
a.pomerance@jmberlin.de
Jewish Museum Berlin
Lindenstraße 9–14
10969 Berlin
