
Another Country
Jewish in the GDR – Exhibition
The Jewish Museum Berlin was showing the first-ever large-scale exhibition on Jewish experiences in East Germany. With a focus on cultural history and drawing on documentary research, the show delved into a little-examined aspect of German-Jewish history, bringing together visual art, film, and literature, as well as multifaceted biographies and exceptional artifacts.
Past exhibition

Where
Old Building, level 1
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
The exhibition centered individual perspectives as it explores Jewish experiences in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), extending this narrative beyond Reunification to the present day. Witnesses to history and their personal stories were at the heart of the show. What motivated Jews to return to the GDR? What did it mean to be Jewish there? What kinds of relationships did Jews have with the state and its structures?
In the aftermath of the Shoah, many Jews were united by a shared desire to build an anti-fascist state in eastern Germany – “another country,” as some of them put it in interviews. Some of these returnees had fled Germany during the Nazi regime and returned after 1945 to the Soviet zone of occupation. Many had survived concentration camps or periods in hiding. In the exhibition, they talk about their experiences in exile, their survival, and their return migration.
Glimpses into the Exhibition

Photo series of the New Synagogue on Oranienburger Straße, Berlin, September 1987; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Mathias Brauner
Photographer Mathias Brauner (b. 1964) about his photo series:
Passing through a back courtyard, I reached a quiet, secluded area. A long-neglected construction-site fence separated the site of the synagogue from the surrounding area. Having crossed that barrier, I stood in front of the tall, dilapidated building. Trespassing the ruins was something special each time—it was a place from another time. Over a pile of rubble and the remains of a bomb blast that had torn a hole in the ceiling of one of the rooms, I made my way inside the building. Faded patterns on the walls, smashed doors, and split-open ceilings and walls immersed me in a bygone world. With my camera, I attempted to document my inner experience.

View of the exhibition room on East Berlin; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe
A wide spectrum of Jewish identities intermingled in Berlin, including religious, secular, socialist, state-aligned, and dissident perspectives. Being Jewish did not necessarily mean membership in the official Jewish Community. Returnee families often shared their experiences of persecution, their political beliefs, and a value system that arose from these commonalities.
East Berlin’s Jewish Community was the largest in the GDR, yet only had several hundred members. Its religious center was the Rykestrasse Synagogue, and its institutions included the kosher butcher shop in Prenzlauer Berg, the Jewish cemetery in Weissensee, and the community library on Oranienburger Strasse.
The eight-part audio and film installation Neuland (Germany, 2023; Jewish Museum Berlin), which runs throughout the entire exhibition, can also be seen on the exhibition view. In it, Yael Reuveny explores a country that no longer exists but has left distinct marks on the present. The projected films show points of reference in East Germany from the perspective of today. Voices from interviews link past and present and create a mosaic of Jewish life journeys.The voices of biographical interviews link past and present and merge into a mosaic of Jewish life journeys.

Torah curtain from the destroyed Old Synagogue of Magdeburg, Germany, 19th century; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of the Jewish Community of Magdeburg, K.d.ö.R, photo: Roman März
In the Association of Jewish Communities in the GDR Newsletter in June 1989 one can read about this Torah curtain:
In late November 1988, an antique collector showed up at our Community office and gave a Torah curtain to our chairman. We suspected that it had once belonged to our destroyed synagogue. We consulted experts from the Magdeburg Museum, who determined, based on the fabric and appliqués, that the Torah curtain had been made around the year 1850. And indeed, it was on September 19 of that year that the cornerstone for the synagogue in Magdeburg was laid, and it was consecrated by the rabbi Dr. Philippson on September 14, 1851.

View of the exhibition room on the seven other Jewish communities in the GDR; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe
In the cities of Dresden, Erfurt, Halle, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Schwerin, Jews made efforts to sustain their religious traditions in small Jewish Communities. These Communities suffered from attrition and aging membership. Kosher foods were imported from neighboring socialist countries. Likewise, rabbis and cantors traveled from abroad. Community leaders navigated a precarious balance between allegiance to the state and the risk of becoming its tool. The Communities served as second families for their members. Communal holiday celebrations and summer camps for the few children and adolescents reinforced their Jewish identities. The composition of the Jewish Communities was fundamentally reshaped by immigration from the Soviet Union after 1990.
Voices from our online feature with video interviews also provide insights into community life in the GDR.

Alice Zadek with her daughter Ruth and her nephew David Hopp on Stalinallee (Karl-Marx-Allee), Berlin, ca. 1956; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of Ruth Zadek, photo: Gerhard Zadek
Gerhard (1919–2005) and Alice Zadek (1921–2005) returned to Berlin from UK exile in 1947. They were founding members of the Free German Youth (FDJ) and had been part of the Herbert Baum resistance group before emigrating. In the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR, the Zadeks were integrated into the political system from the start. However, as former emigrants to the West, they lost all their roles and positions in 1953. After being rehabilitated by the government, they embarked on new career paths. In the 1980s, Judaism began to play a more important role in their lives, and they joined the Jewish Community.

View of the exhibition room with some important dates for Jewish life in the GDR; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe
Fear of antisemitic repression grew widespread among Jews in the early 1950s, leading to a mass emigration to the west in 1952 and 1953. The GDR leadership reacted to the Six-Day War of 1967 by intensifying its hostility toward Israel and pressuring Jews to take anti-Israel stances. The social upheavals of the 1980s, coupled with the looming end of the Cold War, led to an increased public interest in Jewish topics.
The historical background article by Annette Leo on this website or in the exhibition catalog also provides an overview of important caesuras for Jewish life in the GDR.

Marion Kahnemann, Henriette, Dresden, 1985, Ceramic, glazed; Jewish Museum Berlin, on loan from the artist, photo: Roman März
The artist, born in 1960, on sculpture:
In the mid-eighties, Henriette Schmager, a member of Dresden’s Jewish Community, celebrated her ninetieth birthday. Henriette was a modest innkeeper; her family had survived the Shoah by hiding on a small ship near Potsdam. Because her ninetieth birthday fell during the period when Erich Honecker wanted to improve relations with the US and, to that end, needed to paint a positive picture of the Jewish presence in the GDR, her birthday was pronounced a state occasion and celebrated at the best hotel in the city. Even East German television made an appearance and broadcast a segment on the Current Camera program. I remember Henriette standing in the hotel lobby looking lonely and bewildered among the many officials. She was wearing a dazzling blue dress with a big Star of David.
Listen to the podcast episode with Marion Kahnemann (in German) from the podcast: Jewish in the GDR. A Road Trip with Marion and Lena Brasch, a podcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin.
The show is accompanied by extensive thematic programming ranging from a concert with the band Stern-Combo Meißen to a specialized conference titled ...and turning towards the future? – On Jewish History and Stories in the GDR. On Tuesday afternoons, events will also be held directly in the personal environment of the exhibition space, including readings, discussions, film screenings, and discussions with people who lived through this history.
Featuring artworks by Silvia Dzubas, Lea Grundig, Barbara Honigmann, Marion Kahnemann, Yael Reuveny and Vera Singer. The mixed-media installation from me to we by Leon Kahana was commissioned especially for the exhibition and made possible by a grant from the FRIENDS OF THE JMB.
Exhibition Information at a Glance
- When 8 Sep 2023 to 14 Jan 2024
- Where Old Building, level 1
Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
See Location on Map

Exhibition Another Country. Jewish in the GDR: Features & Programs
- Exhibition Webpage
- Current page: Another Country. Jewish in the GDR: 8 Sep 2023 to 14 Jan 2024
- Publications
- Another Country. Jewish in the GDR: Catalog accompanying the exhibition, English edition, 2023
- Ein anderes Land. Jüdisch in der DDR: Catalog accompanying the exhibition, German edition, 2023
- Digital Content
- Voices from the GDR: Twelve short film interviews with Jewish perspectives on life and the political system, 2023, in German with English subtitles
- Come Fly With Me Over the Brandenburg Gate: A documentary by Esther Zimmering, in German
- Singled Out and Viewed Suspiciously: Jews in the GDR: Abridged version of Annette Leo’s contribution to the exhibition catalog, 2023
- Jewish in the GDR. A Road Trip with Marion and Lena Brasch: A podcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin, six episodes, 2023, in German
- Jewish Local History of the GDR: Information about the communities in Dresden, Erfurt, Halle, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Chemnitz and Schwerin on Jewish Places
- City Walk Berlin-East: Tour with Jewish Places from the New Synagogue to the kosher butcher’s shop, school participation project 2022/23
- Soundtrack of the Exhibition: Playlist on Spotify
- See also
- East Germany
Study Projects on the Exhibition
Created in a seminar at the Humboldt University’s Institute for Cultural Studies with the curators of the exhibition under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Liliana Feierstein, 2021 (in German)
A Comic Strip – as Remembered by an Eyewitness An Audio Feature with Peter Schaul
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