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International Museum Day: 16 May 2021

Virtually Explore the Jewish Museum Berlin and Its Subjects

Collage with museum rooms and people

International Museum Day 2021 is taking place on 16 May with the theme “The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine.” We are taking the opportunity to share with you the multiplicity of our (digital) programming. Especially during the pandemic, many new digital formats have been created at the Jewish Museum Berlin. We’ve gathered a selection of them for you here on this curated page. These are supplemented by recorded conversations with eyewitnesses to history, which we sincerely recommend.

Our Stories: Eight Objects and Their Stories

From a boxing trophy, which the owner rediscovered in the ruins of his house, to the painting of an emancipated 19th century woman in her living room, to a child’s drawing of a father who emigrated from the Soviet Union to Germany... In the video series “Our Stories,” eight curators from the new core exhibition each tell the story of one object. Who are or were its owners? How did the object become part of the museum’s collection?

A Virtual Exploration with the JMB App

As well as serving as a guide and companion during a physical visit to the museum, the JMB App also enables a virtual visit. Through original recordings featuring the voices of figures such as Daniel Libeskind and Yael Bartana, the app captures a variety of perspectives, including that of the blind museum guide and musician Jonas Hauer, who describes how blind visitors can perceive the spaces of the museum.

Portrait of Jonas Hauer with checkered shirt, sunglasses in front of a tree.

In the JMB app, our museum guide Jonas Hauer, who is blind, explains how he perceives the spaces in the museum; Foto: Jonas Hauer.

If you would like to look around the core exhibition, the architecture, or the gardens using the app, you can find the download links on the JMB App page.

Four Questions, Many Answers

The new core exhibition recounts Jewish history and culture from its beginnings up to the immediate present. At the end of their tour of the exhibition, visitors encounter the video installation Mesubin (The Gathered) by the artists Yael Reuveny and Clemens Walter. In a concluding chorus of a sort, many Jews across 21 separate screens discuss their experiences of Jewishness in Germany. Intrigued? The following four short films speak to the polyphony of Jewish life today.

Eyewitnesses to History

The series Eyewitnesses to History is almost as old (or young) as the Jewish Museum Berlin. Shortly after the museum opened twenty years ago, the Head of the Archive, Aubrey Pomerance, began conducting conversations with eyewitnesses to history. Their stories and memories give testimony to the Nazi period and represent a wide range of survival experiences. You can see the whole playlist in our media library (in German).

Discover Sites of Jewish Life in Germany

The interactive map Jewish Places invites you to discover and explore sites of Jewish life in Germany on your own doorstep and share them with others on the online platform. Beyond that, the project – which won the 2020 Kulturlichter Prize – also facilitates workshops for schoolchildren who research Jewish history in their own neighborhoods and situate it geographically using the interactive map.

For example, high school students from the Goethe Gymnasium of Bad Ems put together the walking tour of Bad Ems (in German) together with their teacher.

With Jewish Places, you can find more urban walks or learn about the lives of notable Jewish figures while on the move. For example, visit the landmarks of Felice Schragenheim’s life in Berlin (in German).

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