Note: We deliver all images in WebP format. Since September 2022, all modern browsers are supporting this format. It seems you are using an older browser that cannot display images in WebP format. Please update your browser.

The Jewish Object: Material Culture Collection

The museum’s collection includes a diverse range of three-dimensional objects, from simple everyday objects and mass-produced commodities to unique items that showcase sophisticated artistic design. In the context of a Jewish museum, these objects become “Jewish objects” be it through the self-definition of their previous owners or curatorial perspectives. 

Thematic Focus

Our collection includes objects and textiles used for non-religious purposes. Particular importance is given to everyday articles and personal memorabilia, whose primary significance is the personal memory they hold for their previous owners. Most are parts of larger mixed family collections. 

Objects tell stories and history

They provide insights into biographical, socio-historical, and material aspects, and many of them express the complexity and diversity of German-Jewish belonging and experiences. 

Keys to the Sommerfeld family’s luggage; Jewish Museum Berlin, Gift of George and Peter Summerfield, photo: Jens Ziehe

Brown-leather wallet with thirty-one keys spread out

Keys to the Sommerfeld family’s luggage; Jewish Museum Berlin, Gift of George and Peter Summerfield, photo: Jens Ziehe

Certain everyday objects reflect their owners’ middle-class lifestyles. Company products, advertising materials, and commercial signage document the innovation, financial success, and social ascent of businesses, businesspeople, doctors, and lawyers. Club trophies testify to sporting achievements and local sports history. Military awards, particularly those from the First World War, are also prominently represented in the collections, serving as evidence of patriotism and a sense of belonging.

Many objects relate to emigration and the life of emigrants in the countries to which they fled after 1933. Others are directly related to persecution and deportation, such as the yellow Star of David badge, or objects entrusted to neighbors or relatives, which they kept to preserve the memory of their murdered owners. 

We are also continuing to expand the collection with objects from the post-1945 era to the present, including those related to Jewish life in the GDR and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Pianist Tessa Uys donated this Blüthner-Flügel piano to us in 2004. Her mother, pianist Helga Bassel, bought it in Berlin in 1930. Only in 2003, after emigrating to South Africa in 1936 and after her mother's suicide in 1969, did Tessa learn that her mother was Jewish; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of Tessa Uys, Photo: Jens Ziehe. More about this object in our online collections (in German)

Black grand piano with its lid open

Pianist Tessa Uys donated this Blüthner-Flügel piano to us in 2004. Her mother, pianist Helga Bassel, bought it in Berlin in 1930. Only in 2003, after emigrating to South Africa in 1936 and after her mother's suicide in 1969, did Tessa learn that her mother was Jewish; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of Tessa Uys, Photo: Jens Ziehe. More about this object in our online collections (in German)

How can I conduct research using the museum’s archive, collections, and library?

Our Reading Room is open to the public. You can also research using our library’s holdings and some of our collection’s holdings online. To view additional holdings, please contact the responsible curators.

View full answer

I would like to depict or borrow an object from your collections. Who should I contact?

Your contacts for photo permissions are Valeska Wolfgram and Birgit Maurer-Porat (T +49 (0)30 259 93 433, email: fotodoku@jmberlin.de). Please note that the processing time for requests can take between 4 and 6 weeks. 

Loan requests must always be made nine months before the beginning of the exhibition. Requests must be made in writing to the director (Hetty Berg, Stiftung Jüdisches Museum Berlin, Lindenstr. 9-14, 10969 Berlin). 

View full answer

How can I donate objects, photographs, and documents to the museum?

Do you own materials related to Jewish culture and history in Germany that could be of interest to us? We would be delighted to hear from you!  

View full answer

Contact

Leonore Maier
Curator of Material Culture
T +49 (0)30 259 93 455
F +49 (0)30 259 93 409
l.maier@jmberlin.de

Address

Jewish Museum Berlin 
Lindenstraße 9–14 
10969 Berlin

Abstract painting in blue, black and yellow tones

Our Collection

An overview

Details

Digital Content

See also