There are scores of Jewish museums and permanent exhibitions in Germany. They range from small private displays to major public institutions. Many are located in former synagogues or other Jewish buildings. There are also numerous institutions, study centers and university programs dealing with Jewish heritage, culture and history, as well as numerous web links and online databases.
We provide links here to lists of museums and institutions, and lists of links that can be found online, as well as separate links to a number of institutions that have their own web sites.
WEB LINKS
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Jüdische Sammlungen
An association of Jewish museums and other institutions such as former synagogues, memorials, libraries, archives and research institutes, and also individuals working in this field from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The web site has a lot of resources and links.
Action Reconciliation Service for Peace
Among other things, runs “summer camps” on which participants restore Jewish cemeteries.
Central Archives for the Researching of the History of Jews in Germany
Founded in 1987 and located in Heidelberg, the Archives are maintained by the Central Council of Jews in Germany with the sponsorship of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The web site has links to much information and many digital and other resources.
Holocaust Memorial Sites and Museums, and Major Jewish Museums in Germany
An interactive project of the Monument to the Murdered Jewish of Europe Foundation in Berlin.
Part of the Alemannia Judaica web site, a listing of more than 50 Jewish museums or permanent Jewish-interest exhibitions in the German states of Baden- Württemberg, Rheinland Pfalz, Bavaria and Hesse, as well as some Jewish museums in Switzerland, Alsace (France) and Austria. There are links to the web sites of many of these museums.
Jewish Museums & (former) Synagogues in Bavaria
Some 21 institutions, most of them in former synagogues, that form part of the non-State museums of Bavaria. Almost all were founded since 1989, and were developed under the regional direction of Otto Lohr.
Judaica Portal Berlin-Brandenburg
A joint project of the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg , the Cooperative Library Network/Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (KOBV), and a number of other university libraries around Germany. It enables users to perform targeted searches in the Judaica holdings of the contributing institutions, in The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies of the National Library of Israel (RAMBI) as well as in the Digital Collections Judaica in the University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg Frankfurt am Main.
Jüdisch Historischer Verein Augsburg
Web site/blog with news and articles regarding Jewish heritage in many towns and cities in Bavaria.
Leo Baeck Institute – Shared History Project and Virtual Exhibit
The Shared History Project uses 58 objects presented chronologically to create a multifaceted historical narrative of 1700 years of Jewish presence in germany. From the earliest evidence of a Jewish presence in the Roman provinces of the Rhineland to contemporary Germany and Austria, the project tells the story of the complex coexistence of Jews and non-Jews in German-speaking lands over 1,700 years. Each object illustrates the ways in which Jewish history and everyday life was and still is deeply interwoven with the peoples, regions, and countries of Central Europe. The project was initiated by the Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin (LBI) and supported by #2021JLID – Jüdisches Leben in Deutschland e.V. with funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI).
List of Jewish Studies Institutions and Programs in Germany
A list of programs and Institutions compiled by the Verband der Judaisten in Deutschland e.V.
INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONS
AUGSBURG
Jewish Museum in Augsburg-Swabia (Jüdisches Kulturmuseum Augsburg-Schwaben)
Halderstraße 6-8
D-86150 Augsburg
Tel: +49 (0) 821 513658
Fax: +49 (0) 821 513626
Email: office@jkmas.de
The museum is located in the west wing of the Augsburg synagogue (which celebrated its centenary in 2017). The museum was founded in 1985 as the first independent Jewish museum in postwar Germany. Its permanent exhibition celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2016.
Jüdisch Historischer Verein Augsburg (JHVA)
PO BOX 11 10 21
86035 Augsburg, Germany
Blog of a private non-profit organization that researches Jewish history and heritage in and around Bavaria. There are links to posts regarding many towns and cities.
BERLIN
Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin)
Lindenstraße 9-14
D-10969 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0) 30 25993 300
Fax: +49 (0) 30-25993 409
Email:info@jmberlin.de
One of the world’s major Jewish museums, opened in 2001. Its main space in an iconic sculptural building by Daniel Libeskind. A new permanent exhibition opened in 2020.
New Synagogue – Centrum Judaicum (Stiftung Neue Synagoge – Centrum Judaicum)
Oranienburger Str 28/30
10117 Berlin
Museum, Archives, and study/education centre in the restored part of the imposing golden-domed New Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse. It was built in 1866 and seated 3,200 people — Europe’s largest synagogue. It was damaged but not destroyed on Kristallnacht, but was severely damaged by Allied bombing. The ruined sanctuary was torn down in the 1960s. The front section was left standing in ruins, marked after 1966 with a memorial plaque. The communist government kicked off a multi-million dollar restoration project in 1988, the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht. It was completed after the fall of communism by the newly reunited Federal Republic and rededicated on May 7, 1995 as part of events marking the 50th anniversary of the end of WW2.
Topography of Terror (Exhibition and Foundation)
Niederkirchnerstraße 8
10963 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 254 509–0
Fax: +49 30 254 509–99
Email: info@topographie.de
Permanent exhibition at the site where the headquarters of the Secret State Police, the SS and the Reich Security Main Office were located during the Third Reich.The complex Includes the Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center and an extensive Library that can be consulted online.
Selma Stern Zentrum: Jüdische Studien (Center for Jewish Studies) Berlin-Brandenburg
Sophienstraße 22a
D – 10178 Berlin
Fax: +49 (0) 30 2093 66325
Email: info@selma-stern-zentrum.de
BRAUNSBACH
Im Rabbinat
74542 Braunsbach
Tel. +49 (0) 7906-8512 or (0) 7906-940940
Email: rabbinatsmuseum@ braunsbach.de
BRAUNSCHWEIG
Bet Tfila Research Unit for Jewish Architecture in Europe
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Pockelsstr. 4
38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 531 391 2525
Fax: +49 (0) 531 391 2530
Email: synagogen@tu-bs.de
Center aimed at documenting and researching the sacred and secular architecture of Jewish communities in Europe with reference to its development within the cultural, historical and typological context. The Research Unit acts as an interdisciplinary German-Israeli entity, disseminating the results in scholarly and popular publications in order to raise the awareness of the general public for the need to preserve the endangered visual culture of the Jewish people.
Exhibition Centre Behind the St. Giles Church – Jewish Museum
38100 Braunschweig
Tel: +49 (0)531 12 15 26 61
A section of the regional museum opened in 1987 dedicated to local Jewish history. It includes the fittings of the small synagogue of Hornburg, built in 1766, and acquired in 1923 when the Jewish community there dissolved. They include the carved wooden ark and the painted cupola.
COLMBERG
Dokumentationszentrum „Familiengeschichten – Jüdisches Leben in Colmberg (Jewish Life in Colmberg – Family History Documentation Center)
Am Markt 1
91598 Colmberg
Tel: 0 98 03 / 93 29 – 19
Fax: 0 98 03 / 93 29 – 20
DORSTEN
Julius-Ambrunn-Straße 1
D-46282 Dorsten
Tel: +49 (0) 2362 45279
Fax: +49 (0) 2362 45386
Email: info@jmw-dorsten.de
EMMENDINGEN
Schlossplatz 7
79312 Emmendingen
Tel: 07641 – 57 44 44
Email: info@juedisches-museum-emmendingen.de
Founded in 1997, and run by the Association for Jewish History and Culture Emmendingen. It is located in the building where the mikvah is located — the mikvah can be visited in the basement of the building.
ERFURT
Three synagogues: Old (c 1270, with foundations dating probably to the 11th century), Small (1840), and New (1952). Medieval Mikveh (discovered in 2007 and now open to the public). A museum opened in the Old Synagogue in 2009.
The web site of the Jewish Life in Erfurt Network provides extensive information on all these sites. Jewish Life in Erfurt contact:
Landeshauptstadt Erfurt
An der Stadtmünze 4/5
D-99084 Erfurt
Tel: +49 (0) 361 655 1666
Fax: +49 (0) 361 655 55 7221
Email: altesynagoge@erfurt.de
ESENS
August-Gottschalk-Haus Jewish Museum
Burgstraße 8
26427 Esens
Tel: +49 (0)4971 5232
Email: info@august-gottschalk-haus.de
ESSEN
Alte Synagoge Essen – Haus jüdischer Kultur (House of Jewish Culture)
Edmund-Körner Platz 1
D- 45127 Essen
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 6 pm
Audioguide in English and German available
Email: alte-synagoge@essen.de
Tel. +49 201 88 45 218
The imposing Old Synagogue, which survived WW2, was long used as a technology museum but is now a House of Jewish Culture, with exhibits and events.
Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History
Universität Duisburg-Essen
Edmund-Körner-Platz 2
45127 Essen
Tel: +49 (0) 201 2016 4434
Fax: +49 (0) 201 8216 2916
Email: steinheim@steinheim-institut.org
Among its projects is Epidat – The Database of Jewish epigraphy, which provides the inventory, documentation, editing and presentation of epigraphic collections. There are more than 134 digital editions with more than 26,000 epitaphs (more than 60,000 image files) online.
FRANKFURT
Jewish Museum Frankfurt (Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt)
Untermainkai 14-15
D-60311 Frankfurt am Main
Tel: +49 (0) 69 212 35000
Fax: +49 (0) 69 212 30705
Email: info @juedischesmuseum.de
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 10
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: +49 (0)69 212 70 790
Fax: +49 (0)69 212 30 705
The web site offers a brief history of the former Jewish Ghetto, the Judengasse (literally Jews’ Lane), its inhabitants, the houses, and life in the ghetto down through the centuries. The Judengasse was demolished during urban renewal at the end of the 19th century and left derelict after World War II. Decades later, of the original 195 houses, 19 foundations were found during excavations for construction work – today five of them can be seen at “Museum Judengasse” and are used to present everyday life, living conditions and the religious customs of the Jewish inhabitants.
FURTH, SCHNAITTACH, SCHWABACH
Nürnberger Straße 3
D-90762 Fürth
Tel: +49 (0) 911 770577
Fax: +49 (0) 911 7417896
Email: info@juedisches-museum.org
The Jewish Museum of Franconia is housed in three locations: the main museum in Fürth, with branches in Schnaittach (in the former synagogue) and in Schwabach (in a home that includes a sukkah). Details for all three are on the main web site linked above.
GRÖBZIG
Bernhard Böddeker
Langestraße 8/10
06388 Gröbzig
Tel: 034976 380850
Email: info@groebziger-synagoge.de
Opened in 1988 in the 18th-century former synagogue in a village southwest of Berlin, as one of the first Jewish museums in post-WW2 Germany, following an ambitious project begun in 1982 to restore the synagogue, cantor’s house and Jewish school.
HAMBURG
Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden (Institute for the History of German Jews)
Beim Schlump 83
20144 Hamburg
Tel: +49 (0) 40 42 838 2617
Fax: +49 (0) 40 44 808 66
Email: IGdJ@public.uni-hamburg.de
Key documents in Hamburg Jewish History
Digitized documents and other material.
This online source edition published by the Institute for the History of German Jews uses a selection of sources, so-called key documents, to thematically highlight central aspects in Hamburg’s Jewish history from the early modern age to the present.
Transcripts as well as digital facsimiles are provided for all sources, which are placed in historical context by interpretations and background information.
HEIDELBERG
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien
Landfriedstraße 12
69117 Heidelberg
Tel: +49 (0) 62 21 54 192 – 00
Fax.: +49 (0) 62 21 / 54 192 – 09
Email: info@hfjs.eu
Founded in 1979, a leading Jewish studies center in Europe; affiliated with Heidelberg University. Its Albert Einstein library includes one of the largest collections of Judaica in Germany and includes works in all disciplines of Jewish studies, from the 16th century to the present.
Central Archives for the Researching of the History of Jews in Germany
Landfriedstraße 12
69117 Heidelberg
Email: mail@zentralarchiv-juden.de
Founded in 1987, the Archives are maintained by the Central Council of Jews in Germany with the sponsorship of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The web site has links to much information and many digital and other resources.
KASSEL
Weinbergstraße 25–27
34117 Kassel
Tel: +49 561 918 93-0
Fax: +49 561 918 93-10
Email: info@sepulkralmuseum.de
One of around seven museums in Europe that deal specifically with the themes dying, death, burials and commemoration in our society. The permanent exhibition displays the history of graveyards and funeral monuments from the Middle Ages to the present day, as well as objects such as coffins, hearses, mourning costume and mourning jewellery. Its extensive Library has a searchable online catalogue.
LAUPHEIM
Museum of the History of Christians and Jews
Schloss Großlaupheim
Claus-Graf-Stauffenberg-Straße 15
88471 Laupheim
Tel: 07392 96 800-0
Email: museum@laupheim.de
Opened in 1998, the exhibition is housed in the main museum and also at the pre-burial house at the Jewish cemetery, which also can be visited. The cemetery was founded around 1730 and today has around 1,200 graves. The pre-burial house was built in 1907 and restored in 2014 to house its exhibit, which includes sections on the history of the cemetery, Jewish gravestone iconography, and Jewish funeral practices.
MUNICH
Munich Jewish Museum (Jüdisches Museum München)
St.-Jakobs-Platz 16
D-80331 Munich
Tel: +49-89-233-96096
Fax: +49-89-233-989-96096
Email: juedisches.museum@muenchen.de
A municipal museum, opened in 2007, that forms part of a Jewish cultural and communal complex that includes a synagogue and Jewish community building.
RENDSBURG
Schleswig-Holstein Jewish Museum
Prinzessinstraße 7–8
24768 Rendsburg
Tel: +49 (0) 4331 440 430
Email: service@landesmuseen.sh
Founded in 1988 and housed in a red-brick synagogue dating from 1844/45. You can visit the prayer room, women’s gallery and mikvah in addition to permanent and temporary exhibitions.
SPEYER
Domplatz 4
D-67346 Speyer
Tel: +49 (0) 6232 1325 0
Fax: +49 (0) 6232 1325 40
Email: info@museum.speyer.de
STEINBACH AM GLAN
Jewish Museum Steinbach am Glan
Tel: +49 (0) 6383 9217 0
Fax: +49 (0) 6383 9217 92
Email: info@vg-glm.de
WERTHEIM
Jewish Section, Grafschaftsmuseum Wertheim und Otto-Modersohn-Kabinett
Rathausgasse 6-10
97877 Wertheim
Email: Grafschaftsmuseum@t-online.de
WINNWEILER
Jüdisches Museum der Nordpfalz
Schlossstrasse 37
D-67722 Winnweiler
Tel +49 (0)6302/1256 and (0)6302/609585
Email: Museen-Winnweiler@t-online.de
WORMS
Haus zur Sonne
Synagogenplatz 2
D-67547 Worms
Tel +49 (0)6241 853 8400
Fax +49 (0)6241 853 8409
Association dedicated to promoting on the world scale the linked Medieval Jewish heritage of Worms, Mainz and Speyer (known collectively as ShUM, from an anagram of the initials of the towns). In 2021, the ShUM cities were included on the UNESCO register of World Heritage.
Hintere Judengasse 6
67547 Worms
Tel: +49 (0) 6241 853 4701-4707
Fax +49 (0) 6241 853 4710
Email stadtarchiv@worms.de
The building, next to the rebuilt medieval synagogue, also houses the city archives.
WÜRZBURG
Shalom Europa Museum (Jewish community museum)
Valentin-Becker-Str.11
97072 Würzburg
Tel.: 0931-4041441
Email: museum.shalomeuropa@gmx.de
Among the exhibits is a collection of some 1456 Jewish tombstones and fragments dating from 1147 and 1346 that were saved when a Medieval building in the city was partially demolished in 1987. The trove represents the largest collection of Medieval Jewish tombstones.