Donating Objects

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.