Young people stand in a circle and throw up a swing cloth, graphic elements in red and purple.

JMB on.tour

The Jewish Museum Berlin is Coming to You!

For more than 15 years, the Jewish Museum Berlin has been visiting students throughout Germany with JMB on.tour.

Our program transmits age-appropriate know­ledge about German-Jewish culture, history and the present day to youths 12 years and over and young adults. The offer consists of four inter­active work­shops for four school classes per day and provides space for an open ex­change led by museum facilita­tors.

It has already reached more than 75,000 youths in over 600 schools across all German states. Our tour is con­tinuing – join us by applying now! 
 

Trailer to the mobile exhi­bition JMB on.tour; Jewish Museum Berlin 2023

An overview of JMB on.tour

  • Four workshops (WS) (two based on the mobile exhi­bition and two in the class­room) for four school classes, lasting three lesson periods each
  • Mobile exhi­bition that comes to schools in the on.tour bus
  • Target group: Youths 12 years and over and young adults
  • Free and inclusive

Procedure

15 min before school starts Arrival at the school, unloa­ding the tour bus  
1st-3rd lesson 1st WS with the exhi­bition with class A 1st WS in the class­room on the topic of anti-Semi­tism, resp. Jewish diversity with class B
4th-6th period 2nd WS with the exhi­bition with class C 2nd WS in the class­room on the topic of anti-Semi­tism, resp. Jewish diversity with class D
after the 6th lesson Packing the tour bus, depar­ture  
(10 items)
  • Red and purple van with the logo on.tour parked in a school yard.

    The on.tour bus is bringing the exhibition to teenagers and young adults; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • Young people carry a rolled-up carpet in a paved courtyard.

    The students help unload and set up the exhibition; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • A group of young people stand in a circle around a stretched-out parachute.

    Participants approach the topics in a playful way using a parachute; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • A teenager is holding a white square with a magnifying glass and white gloves. Two teenagers look at him.

    All the exhibits can be handled individually; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • On a wooden stool is a display case containing a yellow card on a purple background, which a young person is looking at.

    What is a Jewish object? What does the Jewish Museum Berlin collect? And why?; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • Hands are holding green cards with a photograph and text on them, titled in German Bar*Bat Mitzvah: Growing Up.

    JMB on.tour uses various materials, such as multi-sensory hands-on objects, biographies, documents and photographs, as well as videos, audio material and displays with explanatory texts; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • A box made of metal and wood with a packet of gummy bears and a big book.

    What do kosher gummy bears taste like? Young people can taste this exhibit for themselves; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • Two woman hold green squares to which Hanukkah Menorahs are attached.

    The facilitators supervise the participants and answer questions about Judaism and being Jewish in the past and present; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • Teenagers sit in front of a screen showing two women side by side.

    With several tablets and a large monitor, JMB on.tour also shows digital exhibits, like one of the Four Questions films by Yael Reuveny; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

  • Young people sit on boxes made of wood and metal around a purple circular carpet.

    In the discussion group, all the young people’s questions can again be linked to the exhibition’s themes and discussed in the context of their lives; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff.

JMB on.tour-dates 2025

State

Tour dates

Please apply until
Saxony-Anhalt 2 to 6 Jun 2025 7 Mar 2025
Brandenburg 23 to 27 Jun 2025 4 May 2025
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 7 to 11 Jul 2025 9 May 2025
Saxony 15 to 19 Sep 2025 28 May 2025
Berlin 13 to 17 Oct 2025 possible all year round
Thüringen 17 to 21 Nov 2025 29 Aug 2025

on.tour workshops

All work­shops last three lesson periods, are designed for one school class each and are run by museum faci­litators. The work­shop in the mobile exhi­bition takes places twice in suc­cession. Two class­room work­shops on the topics “Jewish Diversity in Present-day Germany” and “Anti­semitism”are run in parallel.

What is the JMB on.tour workshop in the mobile exhibition about?

Grade level: 6 to 13 
Number of parti­cipants: max. 30 students 
Length: 3 lesson periods 
Location: a large room e.g. an audi­torium or a gym­nasium (at least 8 x 8 meters) 
How many times: twice in one on.tour day

The mobile exhi­bition conveys know­ledge about Jewish religion and culture and German-Jewish history as well as the present. Topics can include the Torah and Talmud, dietary laws (Kashrut), the Sab­bath (day of rest), Jewish places, the signi­ficance of migration stories for present-day Jewish life in Germany and Jewish pers­pectives on the Holo­caust and forms of remem­brance.

The work­shop revolves around inde­pendent, inter­est-led discovery with the aid of around 40 hands-on exhibits: What does a broken glass, a pack of Fromms con­doms or a soccer shirt have to do with Ju­daism? Dis­cussions with the on.tour faci­litators connect questions to young people’s own lives: How do you watch what you eat? Is there any­thing you don’t eat on principle? What do you want to free your­self from? What langu­ages do you switch between? The museum itself is also part of the dis­cussion: What actually is a Jewish object? What does the Jewish Museum Berlin collect? And what would you donate to a museum or let it ex­hibit?

The faci­litators respond to the indivi­dual needs and interests of each group and adapt the contents to the group’s prior know­ledge and curri­culum. This work­shop takes place twice in suc­cession.

What is the JMB on.tour workshop “Jewish Diversity in Present-day Germany” about?

Grade level: 8 to 13  
Number of participants: max. 30 students 
Length: 3 lesson periods 
Location: Classroom 
How many times: max. twice in one on.tour day

Who is a Jew? What is Jewish? And what defines me? The work­shops is centered on artist Yael Reuveny’s film Four Questions, in which she asks Jews about their Jewish identity. The prota­gonists present Jewish life today in a multi­faceted, contradictory and enter­taining way. Parti­cipants discuss their own appro­ach to life and share their opi­nions on the wide-ranging state­ments in the film. In doing so, they recog­nize the diversity of Ju­daism in Ger­many and can reflect on their own stereo­types.

What is the JMB on.tour workshop “Antisemitism – Myths about Jews” about?

Grade level: 9 to 13  
Number of participants: max. 30 students 
Length: 3 lesson periods 
Location: Classroom 
How many times: max. twice in one on.tour day

Con­tempt for Jewish tradition and the re­jection of Jews have repeatedly led to hate and violence throu­ghout history. Today, Jewish insti­tutions in Germany are under police pro­tection. In this work­shop, we address the complex pheno­menon of anti­semitism by using film case studies that parti­cipants respond to. They discuss the anti­semitic nature of the incidents and ex­change arguments. The parti­cipants’ ideas and expe­riences will be included in the open dis­cussion. The aim is to ex­change perspec­tives and form one’s own opinion, thereby creating an under­standing of what anti­semitism is and how it can present itself. 
 

How inclusive is JMB on.tour?

In JMB on.tour, parti­cipants explore more than forty exhibits that they can touch, look at, listen to and even taste and smell. There is also a diverse array of bio­graphies, photos, docu­ments, quotes and in-depth expla­natory texts. All parts of the exhibition have at least the title printed in Braille, and panels with quotes from Jews, for example on dietary laws, are fully legible in Braille. All texts are written in plain lan­guage and have been designed with tactile QR codes that can be used with screen readers. Our trained facil­itators tailor the exhi­bition to partici­pants with disabi­lities or limi­tations in the areas of hearing, seeing, moving and under­standing.

How was JMB on.tour developed?

Various advisory boards were invol­ved in deve­loping JMB on.tour.

Students from two Berlin schools served on the school advisory board where they tested the proto­types and provided impor­tant feed­back. The Biesalski School in Dahlem has a special peda­gogical focus on “physical and motor de­velopment” and “autism.” The Refik Veseli School is an integrated secon­dary school in Kreuz­berg.

Experts from the General Associ­ation for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Berlin and the Insti­tute for Reha­bilitation Sciences at Hum­boldt Uni­versity supported JMB on.tour with their knowledge on the Inclu­sion Advisory Board.

Editorial staff at the magazine Ohrenkuss checked the texts for read­ability and, together with the expert Anne Leicht­fuss, trans­lated the texts into plain langu­age.

With Funding Provided by

Logo Deutsche Bank Stiftung. Logo: Friends of the JMB.

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