Exhibition Opening Between the Lines: Daniel Libeskind and the Jewish Museum Berlin
Press Release, Thu 7 May 2026
Starting tomorrow, the Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) will present the exhibition Between the Lines: Daniel Libeskind and the Jewish Museum Berlin. With this exhibition, the JMB honors architect Daniel Libeskind, who turns eighty in May, while celebrating its own twenty-fifth anniversary in the iconic museum building.
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Dr. Margret Karsch
Head of Press
T +49 (0)30 259 93 419
presse@jmberlin.deMelanie Franke
Press Officer
T +49 (0)30 25 993 340
presse@jmberlin.de
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Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation
Lindenstraße 9–14
10969 Berlin
In the summer of 1989, the Polish-born U.S. architect won the competition for a new building to extend what was then the Berlin Museum (now part of Stadtmuseum Berlin) – a project that quickly established his international reputation. Through his intensive engagement with Berlin and German history, Libeskind became one of the first architects to translate the rupture in civilization represented by the Holocaust into architectural form. The competition and the discussions that followed prompted intensive debate in reunified Germany about the country’s “culture of memory”: how German society as a whole relates to recent history, the Holocaust, and the Jewish minority, and what role Jews play within this context.
Hetty Berg, Director of the JMB, underscores the design’s significance for Germany’s culture of memory: “Libeskind’s 1988 design went far beyond the original architectural brief by engaging intensively with Berlin’s historical landscape and, as a result, leaving its mark on German memory culture. The building also symbolizes the debates surrounding how German history should be told. To this day, it is a space that recounts the lives of Jews in Germany – past and present – German-Jewish history, and the relationship between the Jewish minority and the non-Jewish majority.”
The exhibition invites visitors to delve into Libeskind’s design, the building, and its context. “The design drawing gives visitors insight into the concepts informing Libeskind’s thought process,” says curator Miriam Goldmann. “Through quotations from Paul Celan, Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Schleiermacher, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Heinrich von Kleist, Rahel Varnhagen, Mies van der Rohe, and others, they can follow how the architect draws on the cultural history of Germany in general and Jewish Berlin in particular.”
Alongside many architectural allusions to Walter Benjamin’s book One-Way Street, the drawing also cites biblical verses of promise and despair. The deportation dates of Berlin Jews are noted among them. This vanished Berlin population is inscribed into the building several times as an enclosed empty space – a “Void” – extending from the basement to the roof. Each Void occurs at the junction between a straight line and a zigzag line. With the Voids, the architect adds a dimension of time to the spatial structure, creating a point of convergence for the present, past, and future.
By presenting models and drawings alongside the intellectual and cultural context of the time, the exhibition returns to the period of upheaval and transformation following Berlin’s reunification after 1989 and contributes to a deeper understanding of the origins of current debates on memory and commemoration. The displays include objects from the JMB’s collection as well as loans and donations from Daniel Libeskind and Studio Libeskind.
“Over the past twenty-five years, the Jewish Museum Berlin has evolved into a vital platform for culture, reflection, and educational exchange. It was designed to provoke thought and emotion, and I am pleased to see it continue to inspire new generations to engage with history in meaningful and transformative ways,”
says architect Daniel Libeskind.
The JMB thanks the FRIENDS OF JMB for their generous support of the exhibition.
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Duration |
8 May to 1 November 2026 |
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Location |
Jewish Museum Berlin, Eric F. Ross Gallery |
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Admission |
Free of Charge |
Up-to-date information on the exhibition is available on the website https://www.jmberlin.de/en/libeskind.
Current press images are available for download at https://www.jmberlin.de/en/press-images-current-exhibitions.
Exhibition Between the Lines. Daniel Libeskind and the Jewish Museum Berlin: Features & Programs
Exhibition Webpage
Between the Lines. Daniel Libeskind and the Jewish Museum Berlin: 8 May to 1 Nov 2026
Accompanying Events & Tours
An evening with Daniel Libeskind, our JMB book club, film screenings, a panel discussion, and public tours: Find all dates in our calendar
Publications
JMB Journal #28: Staying Curious! The Museum’s 25th Anniversary Issue, among other things, features this exhibition.
Digital Content
- Interview with Daniel Libeskind: The architecture for the Jewish Museum Berlin and the power of rebellion and wondering, 2026
- Interview with the Exhibition Curator: Miriam Goldmann about memory culture and the poetics of architectural sketches
See also
- The Libeskind building: Architecture retells German-Jewish history
- Daniel Libeskind, architect
- How our museum came to be: Online feature in four parts, 2020
- Diagonal Line of Diversity: The Lindenstrasse in Berlin, caught between past and future, essay 2016
- 25 Years Jewish Museum Berlin: Discover our anniversary program, 2026
