2026 Anniversary Program

The anniversary program builds on the museum’s founding mission and creates new forms of engagement with the institution. From the day it opened, the JMB has combined questions of history and memory with a striking architectural statement. Daniel Libeskind’s architecture continues to shape the museum to this day. “The JMB anniversary is not only an opportunity to look back, but above all to look ahead,” says Director Hetty Berg. “We have designed a program that sparks curiosity, invites visitors to explore, and allows them to experience a range of Jewish perspectives. The anniversary program opens up new forms of engagement and gives visitors opportunities to connect what they see with their own questions, interests, and points of reference.”

Exhibitions

The anniversary year centers on two exhibitions. Between the Lines: Daniel Libeskind and the Jewish Museum Berlin (8 May – 1 November 2026) focuses on the museum’s architecture, its founding story, and early institutonal identity, with free admission. Also marking the JMB’s 25th anniversary, the exhibition The Opposite of Now: Artistic Paths to a Different Present (4 September 2026 – 10 January 2027) invites visitors to step away from the present while encountering twelve artistic projects, and search for approaches that can change society. Each exhibition will be framed by a curated program of events.

Events Program for Between the Lines

In cooperation with the Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg (JFBB), two films by German-Jewish film architects Heinz Fenchel and Ken Adam will be screened on 10 May. The program will include The Trouble with Money (1936, directed by Max Ophüls) and Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, directed by Stanley Kubrick), as well as the documentary short This Is the War Room about the work of Ken Adam.

For the JMB’s 25th anniversary, architect Daniel Libeskind returns to the site of his pioneering design as part of the exhibition Between the Lines. In a conversation in the Glass Courtyard on 19 May, he will talk with journalist and author Johanna Adorján about the creation of the building, his engagement with Berlin’s urban history, and the role of architecture in the culture of remembrance.

On 16 June, the JMB Book Club will examine Walter Benjamin’s collection of philosophical prose, One-Way Street (1928), as one of Daniel Libeskind’s inspirations for the JMB’s design, and discuss the fragmentary imagery of this modernist literary text with media scholar Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky and Monika Sommerer, Head of the JMB Library.

A panel discussion on 25 June titled The Berlin Republic will reflect on the years of the museum’s founding. Heinrich Wefing (DIE ZEIT), Inka Bertz (former Head of the JMB Art Collection), and Michael Wolffsohn (historian and writer) will discuss the debates around the politics of memory in the 1990s and early 2000s. The conversation will be moderated by Shelly Kupferberg. All events in the program can be found in our event calendar.

Events Surrounding The Opposite of Now

The exhibition opening will take place at 7 pm on 3 September with art, music, and drinks, an opportunity to stop by with friends and experience the museum in a new way. Alongside the exhibition The Opposite of Now, the JMB is also hosting two book club evenings dedicated to Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob and Naomi Alderman’s The Future. The program will be complemented by conversations with Omri Boehm and Georges Didi-Huberman and extensive educational programming for families, children, and teens. More information will be announced on an ongoing basis in the JMB newsletter.

Family Sundays

On seven Family Sundays, the JMB invites families with children aged 8 to 16 on shared journeys of discovery. From June to December, on one Sunday each month, the museum will offer free workshops, tours, and other creative activities—from food and Jewish holidays to architecture and art, as well as history, literature, music, and everyday culture. The Family Sundays will be held on 7 June, 26 July, 16 August, 6 September, 25 October, and 22 November, concluding on 6 December with a major Hanukkah concert in the Glass Courtyard. The dates and daily programs can be found here on our website. On all Family Sundays from September 2026 to December 2026, there will be free admission to the temporary exhibition The Opposite of Now: Artistic Paths into Another Present.

25 Years of the FRIENDS OF THE JMB

At the popular Summer Party on 23 August, not only will the JMB be celebrating its 25th anniversary, but also the FRIENDS of the Museum. Concerts with Suli Puschban and the Jungle Jazz Band, workshops for children and adults, and tours of the JMB and ANOHA will make for a well-rounded program, complemented by food and drinks in the JMB garden. Admission to the Summer Party is free.

5 Years of ANOHA

ANOHA, the Children’s World of the Jewish Museum Berlin, is celebrating its fifth anniversary on 14 June. Since it opened, ANOHA has welcomed children and families into the story of Noah’s Ark from the Torah in a variety of engaging ways. In honor of the anniversary, the museum is hosting a family festival. The focus will be on the story of Noah’s Ark, complemented by a creative program featuring art workshops and circus activities, along with music, dance, and storytelling. Registration will be open via the ticket shop starting 21 May. We expect the family festival to be very popular. To enable as many visitors as possible to attend on this day, each ticket is limited to two hours. More information about the family festival is available here.

Zukunftsmusik Concert Series

The popular Jazz in the Garden format will also be part of the anniversary program through the Zukunftsmusik concert series. The Nigun Quartet opened the season on 5 July. The ensemble from Israel combines Hasidic melodies with the language of jazz. In a musical dialogue with Cuban drummer Michael Olivera, Israeli bassist Adam Ben Ezra plays a fusion of musical traditions. The new duo will perform on 9 August. Another highlight will be a concert with Alli Neumann on 8 September. The versatile artist from Flensburg has long been a fixture of the German music scene. In her albums Madonna Whore Complex and Primetime, she brings together themes such as self-empowerment and social change.

The anniversary year will end with another highlight: the Hanukkah concert on 6 December at the JMB’s Glass Courtyard. Admission to all concert events in the Zukunftsmusik series is free. More concert dates will be announced soon.

Website Relaunch: www.jewish-places.de

Digital projects and accessibility are central to the Jewish Museum Berlin’s work to keep Jewish history and contemporary Jewish life visible and accessible to new audiences and younger generations, while strengthening the place of Jewish culture in Germany. A centerpiece of this digital outreach strategy is the community project Jewish Places, which visualizes Jewish life and Jewish culture in Germany on an interactive map. The platform collects, pools, and connects knowledge—from religious and secular institutions to biographical traces of historical figures—and invites users to discover places, add content, and contribute their own material.

In time for the anniversary, the JMB is launching a completely redesigned version of the website www.jewish-places.de: more user-friendly, visually aligned with the museum’s branding, and fully updated in both technology and content. During the anniversary year, Jewish Places will also deepen this approach through local networking in seven German cities: Dessau, Dresden, Paderborn, Worms, Lübeck, Göttingen, and Würzburg. The focus will be placed on local Jewish life in partnership with local stakeholders. The website will go live at the end of May and will be accompanied by campaigns in each city.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the FRIENDS OF THE JMB for making the anniversary program possible and for 25 years of dedicated support for countless projects that have helped shape the museum in lasting ways.