Exhibition Opening
Defiance: Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era
We invite all interested parties to the opening of the exhibition Defiance: Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era, with speeches by Hetty Berg, Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, and Michal Friedlander, Curator at the Jewish Museum Berlin. The evening will be accompanied by music from the DJ duo “Balagan Sisters”.
The speeches will be translated into German Sign Language.
past event
Where
Old Building, ground level, Glass Courtyard
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
The exhibition reveals the important role that Jewish women designers played in German society’s process of emancipation and modernization in the early twentieth century—as women, as Jews, and as artists. Some managed to escape and start afresh abroad, but almost all have remained excluded from the history of German art and culture up to the present day.
Featuring exhibits by more than sixty designers, this is the world’s first collective exhibition on the theme. It brings together pioneering women who battled social marginalization to attain prominent positions in their own domains—until the Nazi regime destroyed their careers and lives. Through their works, the Jewish Museum Berlin gives new visibility to their forgotten biographies and their artistic and entrepreneurial achievements. Visitors to the exhibition will encounter a broad spectrum of design and craft techniques, from goldsmithing and textiles, ceramics and wood carving, to fashion design and graphics.
With funding provided by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds. We also thank the David Berg Foundation for their kind support.
Hanukkah lamp, design: Rahel Ruth Sinasohn, manufacturer: Max Otto, Leopold Mache, Dresden, ca. 1920-1928; Jewish Museum Berlin
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Hanukkah lamp, design: Rahel Ruth Sinasohn, manufacturer: Max Otto, Leopold Mache, Dresden, ca. 1920-1928; Jewish Museum Berlin
Defiance: Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era
- Exhibition Webpage
- Defiance: Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era (11 Jul to 23 Nov 2025): visual and audio resources relating to the exhibition and information in German Sign Language
- Publications
- Exhibition catalog: 2025, in German
- Digital Content
- Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era: All biographies at a glance
- Jewish Places: Important places where the Jewish designers lived and worked on our interactive map
- Do you know Eva Samuel?: How the research for the exhibition took off
- Small Puppets – Strong Women: community project accompanying the exhibition (in German)
- Objects from the exhibition in our collection online in German
- Accompanying Events
- Studio Talk I: Mon 29 Sep 2025, 6.30 pm
- Studio Talk II: Wed 15 Oct 2025, 6.30 pm
- Studio Talk III: Wed 5 Nov 2025, 6.30 pm
- Guided Tours
- Public Tour in German: tour with fixed dates
- Public Tour in English: tour with fixed dates
- Public Tour in Hebrew – tour with fixed dates
- Guided Tour & Brunch: tour with fixed dates
- Bookable Tour for Groups and Schools: Tour by appointment
- See also
- Paper doll based on a costume design by Dodo (1907–1998): Create your own movable paper doll!
- Beaded bracelet based on a design by Emma Trietsch (1876–1933): Make your own beaded bracelet!
- Fashion paper doll based on designs by Irene Saltern (1911–2005): Dress your own fashion paper doll!
- Jewish Women Ceramists from Germany after 1933: Online feature on Google Arts & Culture, in German
