Entries from the Blog of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Work in Progress
Since its relaunch in 2016, our website itself has been magazine-like. For this reason, selected entries from our museum blog are gradually being transferred here. In this way, we hope to ensure that relevant, timeless entries are easier to find via the topics presented on our website. Anyone with a particular interest in texts created within the context of the blog can find all of the blog entries that have already been transferred together on this page.
Since 2017, we publish new articles, features, and online projects directly here on the website (show all online projects).
Question of the Month: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Jews (7)
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Jews
Our exhibition The Whole Truth…Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Jews was based on 30 questions posed to the Jewish Museum Berlin or its staff over the past few years. In the exhibition, visitors had their own opportunity to ask questions or to leave comments on post-it notes. Some of these questions are answered here in our website.
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How does a kippah stay on?
Answered by Michal Friedlander, Curator for Judaica and Applied Arts
Essay
2013 -
Why do women have to cover their hair with a wig or scarf after getting married?
Answered by Miriam Goldmann, Curator of the Exhibition The Whole Truth
Essay
2014 -
Do Jews have their own language?
Answered by Martina Lüdicke, Curator of the Exhibition The Whole Truth
Essay
2013 -
Why do some Jews rock back and forth while they pray?
Answered by Miriam Goldmann, Curator of the Exhibition The Whole Truth
Essay
2013 -
What role do gender themes play? What’s the story with women rabbis?
Answered by Anina Falasca, Curator of the Exhibition The Whole Truth
Essay
2013 -
Are there gay Jews?
Answered by Anina Falasca, Miriam Goldmann, Martina Lüdicke, Curators of the Exhibition The Whole Truth
Interview
2013 -
“Was Goethe a Jew too?”
Answered by Berhard Jensen, Library
Essay
2014
Holidays: Old Rituals, New Customs (19)
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Old Rituals, New Customs
Museum employees talk about traditions on Jewish holidays.
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Across Mannheim in the Matzo-Mobile
David Studniberg about the great feeling to support others during the corona crisis
Report
Apr 2020 -
Hanukkah Lasts Eight Days...
and for each day, we’ve got a little treat for you here (including some information about Chrismukkah)
Online Feature
2017/20 -
The Big Clean-Up
Dana Akrish on Passover in Jerusalem
Essay
2018 -
Quite “best practice”
Tom Chai Sosnik celebrated his coming out as transgender in spring 2015 with remarkable aplomb – in a ceremony performed by Rabbi Tsipi Gabai at a Jewish school in California, supported by his family.
Essay
2017 -
A Kind of Family Gathering
Bitter Herbs and Their Relatives in the Diaspora Garden
Essay
2017 -
“8 Facts” about Hanukkah
David Studniberg on the Jewish Feast of Dedication
Essay
2016 -
A Small Window onto History
Aubrey Pomerance, Head of Archives, on a newly acquired Passover Haggadah and its previous owners in Kreuzberg
Behind the Scenes
2014/2016 -
Kol Nidre and the “Civil Improvement of the Jews”
Haim Mahlev on controversies throughout the ages
Essay
2015 -
“Clever Esther” – Not Suitable for Children?!
Shlomit Tripp reports about her child-oriented retelling of the Esther story
Essay
2015 -
“If I were a rich mouse ...”
Michal Friedlander on Mickey, Minnie and their Hanukkah message
Essay
2015 -
In the Sleeping Car with Ten Hand-puppets and a Travel Hanukkah Candelabrum
Shlomit Tripp on her Hanukkah with the bubales family
Report
2015 -
“Go down Moses” and an Orange on the Seder Plate
Cilly Kugelmann on old and new customs for Passover
Essay
2013 -
Apples in Honey and Gefilte Fish
Museum employees share their personal experiences of the High Holidays
Interview
2013 -
The Long Night of Tikkun
Mirjam Wenzel and Avner Ofrath about what we can learn from loving women
Essay
May 2013 -
Menurkeys for Thanksgivukkah?
Food for thought and recipes by Signe Rossbach
Essay
2013 -
Tu bi-Shevat Traditions in Israel
Avner Ofrath on trees, fruit, and a breath of New Age
Essay
2013 -
New Customs for the New Year
Shlomit Tripp about tashlikh boats and petals on the water
Essay
2012 -
Cycling Holiday
Avner Ofrath on Yom Kippur in Israel
Gloss
2012 -
Jewish Halloween
Naomi Lubrich on candy as a tricky matter for synagogues on Simhat Torah
Gloss
2012
Behind the Scenes: Entries on the Exhibition “Snip it! Stances on Circumcision” (9)
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Entries on the Exhibition “Snip it! Stances on Circumcision”
Interviews and stories by our employees, which were published as part of the exhibition Snip it! Stances on Circumcision, you can now read here on our website.
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“I didn’t want to ‘get lost’”
Alice Lanzke talked with Rabbi Goldberg about the complaint that he was liable for “dangerous personal injury” due to the circumcisions he performed.
Interview
2015 -
“It was only later that I had my doubts”
Mirjam Wenzel talked with Naomi about her thoughts on ritual circumcision, then and now.
Interview
2015 -
David’s Circumcision
Shlomit Tulgan, who knows David from childhood, tells us the story of his circumcision.
Report
2015 -
On the Hamster Wheel of Argumentation
Andy Simanowitz, guide in the exhibition Snip it!, reports on stubborn questions and spirals of argumentation.
Report
2015 -
“Part of something greater”
Alice Lanzke spoke with Amitay and Meital from Israel about the circumcision of their son.
Interview
2015 -
A Circumcision to Keep the (Family) Peace
Alice Lanzke spoke with a Muslim mother about the question: should her four-year-old son be circumcised?
Interview
2015 -
“The best solution would be that the baby is a girl”
Jörg Waßmer prepared the inventory of Fritz Wachsner’s estate and got some insights into an internal Jewish debate about circumcision.
Essay
2015 -
On Belonging and Family Debates
A conversation about a circumcision that didn’t happen
Interview
2014 -
After the Exhibition is Before the Exhibition
Martina Lüdicke on the decision to dedicate a separate exhibition to questions of circumcision raised in the exhibition The Whole Truth
Behind the Scenes
2014
Behind the Scenes: Anecdotes and Exciting Finds while Working with our Collections (22)
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Anecdotes and Exciting Finds while Working with our Collections
Employees of our archive and our collections provide insight into their work and share stories and insights
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From Cowpox to Covid-19
The Archive staff members write about nearly 200 years of vaccine certificates in our archive
Online Feature
2021/22 -
“No, I Want Dr. O.”
Leonie Meyer’s diaries from the years before her marriage (1910–12), presented by Jörg Waßmer
Online Feature
2021 -
Anna meets Leonie
Drawings by Anna Justicz, inspired by Leonie Oliven’s diaries from 1901–1928
Art Project
2020 -
Documenting Brutality
Historical sources on the antisemitic violence in Germany between 1930 and 1938 in the holdings of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Online Project
2020 -
Berlin in Times of Cholera
Doreen Tesche and Jörg Waßmer discover some parallels to the current corona pandemic in Louis Röhmann’s diary entries about cholera in Berlin in 1837.
Report
2020 -
“Since that day, Iʼve felt like a newborn”
A striking document about the 1945 Day of Liberation
Online Feature
2020 -
That can’t be! Can it?
Jörg Waßmer about coincidences in the archive
Online Feature
2020 -
Kurt: Hunting for Clues
Initially, all we have is a first name, but Jörg Waßmer’s intensive research brings some details to light.
Online Feature
2018 -
All for Love
Jörg Waßmer searches for sexual diversity in the collection of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Essay
2018 -
Born in 1918, two minutes from his parents’ perfumery on Kurfürstendamm
Fritz Scherk and the history of a family business in Berlin
Essay
2018 -
A Joyful Occasion for the Lustig Family
Paula and Bernhard Lustig’s Wedding Album, presented by Susanne Schuur
Online Feature
2017 -
“And next Sunday, no one will be thinking of the election anymore”
By chance, archivist Jörg Waßmer found a report on the 1930 German Federal Election
Essay
2017 -
12 of 12,000
Fallen German-Jewish Soldiers in the First World War
Online Project
2016 -
A Small Window onto History
Aubrey Pomerance, Head of Archives, on a newly acquired Passover Haggadah and its previous owners in Kreuzberg
Essay
2014/16 -
Shot by German Police in 1946
Aubrey Pomerance, Head of Archives, on the tragic fate of Shmuel Dancyger Z. L.
Essay
2016 -
“The best solution would be that the baby is a girl”
Jörg Waßmer prepared the inventory of Fritz Wachsner’s estate and got some insights into an internal Jewish debate about circumcision.
Essay
2015 -
Salvaged from the Trash
Anna Rosemann on the photo albums of the artist Olga Irén Fröhlich
Essay
2015 -
Conservation of Letters and Seals
Stephan Lohrengel reports about his work as paper conservator in the Jewish Museum Berlin.
Report
2015 -
The World in Miniature
Kirsten Meyer on conserving and storing a stamp album
Report
2014 -
From idyllic landscape views to the trenches
Seeing the First World War through an army doctor’s photographs
Essay
2014 -
Farewell Letter, Ink on Paper
Exhibition curator Maren Krüger and paper conservator Stephan Lohrengel about a touching historical document and why we could only exhibit it so shortly
Essay
2013 -
Ludwig Guttmann, Father of the Special Olympics
Archivist Manfred Wichmann on the Life and Work of Ludwig Guttmann
Essay
2012
Firsthand Stories: A Tour of Tour Experiences (5)
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A Tour of Tour Experiences
Some of our guides, as well as a few visitors, have written here about experiences they had on various tours at the Jewish Museum Berlin.
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Jerusalem for All the Senses
A report from the visit of a guided tour for visitors with blindness or limited vision through the exhibition Welcome to Jerusalem by Gerald Pirner
Report
2019 -
Intense Encounters in “Jerusalem”
How school children react to the tour through the exhibition Welcome to Jerusalem. A conversation with Marc Wrasse
Interview
2019 -
How about more tolerance for ambiguity?
Mohamed Ibrahim and Shemi Shabat talk about their tandem guided tour Jerusalem in Dialogue
Interview
2018 -
On the Hamster Wheel of Argumentation
Andy Simanowitz, guide in the exhibition Snip it!, reports on stubborn questions and spirals of argumentation.
Report
2015 -
The Whole Truth: a Continuing Discussion
Guide Marc Wrasse about group discussions in the exhibition
Essay
2013
Behind the Scenes: Entries on the Exhibition “Welcome to Jerusalem” (9)
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Entries on the Exhibition “Welcome to Jerusalem”
The exhibition Welcome to Jerusalem was on display from 11 December 2017 to 1 May 2019. To accompany the exhibition, we conducted interviews with our guides and curators, and spoke with visitors.
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Intense Encounters in “Jerusalem”
How school children react to the tour through the exhibition Welcome to Jerusalem. A conversation with Marc Wrasse
Interview
2019 -
Jerusalem for All the Senses
A report from the visit of a guided tour for visitors with blindness or limited vision through the exhibition Welcome to Jerusalem by Gerald Pirner
Report
2019 -
“Whatever you want to see – you come to Jerusalem, and you can find it there.”
Florian Schmelling has captured comments from visitors to our Jerusalem Exhibition.
Interview
2018 -
How about more tolerance for ambiguity?
Mohamed Ibrahim and Shemi Shabat talk about their tandem guided tour Jerusalem in Dialogue
Interview
2018 -
“We’re no longer guests, we belong.”
Elena Bashkirova, director of the chamber music “festival intonations,” took a tour of the exhibition then spoke with us about the “holy city.”
Interview
2018 -
Neither King David nor Cilly Kugelmann can solve this problem
About the difficulties the organizers of the Welcome to Jerusalem exhibition encountered doing justice to the ideal of justice, writes Walid Abd El Gawad
Essay
2018 -
The Big Clean-Up
Dana Akrish writes about passover in Jerusalem
Essay
2018 -
“Jerusalem is like a former boyfriend”
Interview with filmmaker Dalia Castel and actress Orit Nahmias about Jerusalem. They both grew up there
Interview
2018 -
Schools in Hannover, a Jerusalem Hotel, and the Search for their Connection
Rosa Fava writes about a conference on anti-Semitism-critical adult education
Report
2018
Behind the Scenes: Entries on the Exhibition “The Whole Truth” (7)
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Entries on the Exhibition “The Whole Truth”
What obstacles had to be overcome to open the exhibition The Whole Truth (2013), how it felt as a Jew to sit in a glass case in the exhibition, how visitors reacted, what further things developed out of the exhibition...
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Trials of a Truth Seeker
Michal Friedlander on the countdown before the opening of the exhibition The Whole Truth
Behind the Scenes
2013 -
Ask the Rabbi
Martina Lüdicke about the shooting of the film installation in the exhibition The Whole Truth
Report
2013 -
In the Showcase
Olga Mannheimer about her experiences in the exhibition The Whole Truth
Report
2013 -
From Wagner to the Weather
Signe Rossbach about her two hours as a living exhibition object in the show The Whole Truth
Report
2013 -
Conversion and Controversy
Naomi Lubrich on the new interest in this topic and on religious loyalty
Essay
2013 -
The Whole Truth: a Continuing Discussion
Guide Marc Wrasse about group discussions in the exhibition
Essay
2013 -
After the Exhibition is Before the Exhibition
Martina Lüdicke on the decision to dedicate a separate exhibition to questions of circumcision
Behind the Scenes
2014
Interview Series: New German Stories (12)
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New German Stories
From 2014 to 2017, our colleagues from the Academy program on migration and diversity held regular events at the Jewish Museum in a series called New German Stories. The guests' lives speak to Germany, past and present, as a society of migration, and the events take these life stories as a springboard for exploring these themes. Beforehand, the guests were almost always interviewed. We have compiled these interviews for you here.
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Karamba Diaby
“We should close this representation gap”
Interview
26 May 2017 -
Anita Awosusi
On her book Our Father – A Sinti Family Recounts
Interview
6 Feb 2017 -
Ármin Langer
“The boredom of peaceful coexistence”
Interview
18 Oct 2016 -
Marion Kraft
“The part Black soldiers played in the liberation of Germany from Nazism has been largely neglected”
Livestream
6 Jul 2016 -
Çiçek Bacık
“We’ve always been spoken and written about”
Interview
13 Oct 2015 -
Fereshta Ludin
“I wish more people would look in my eyes instead of at my scarf”
Interview
16 Sep 2015 -
David Ranan
“Other but not foreign”
Interview
6 Jul 2015 -
Ahmad Milad Karimi
On his book Osama bin Laden is Sleeping with Fishes
Interview
9 Mar 2015 -
Alina Gromova
Generation “kosher light”. Young Jews of Russian descent in Berlin
Interview
8 Sep 2014 -
Canan Turan
Kıymet or: A cinematic tribute to my grandmother
Interview
4 Jul 2014 -
Urmila Goel and Nisa Punnamparambil-Wolf
InderKinder
Dealing creatively with ethnic classificationsInterview
19 Mar 2014 -
Alice Bota, Khuê Pham, and Özlem Topçu
“New German stories”
Interview
29 Jan 2014
Book Reviews: Contemporary Jewish Authors (2)
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Contemporary Jewish Authors
Employees of the Jewish Museum Berlin share their opinions on contemporary books by Jewish authors.
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Quasicrystals by Eva Menasse
Mirjam Wenzel, Naomi Lubrich and Mirjam Bitter talk about Jewish questions, the lives of women, and expectations of literature in Eva Menasses novel Quasikristalle
2013 -
Der Kalte by Robert Schindel
Book review by Mirjam Bitter on Robert Schindel's novel unfolding the world of Vienna of the Waldheim affair, from 1985 to 1989.
Book Review
2013
