The Jewish Museum Berlin

24/03/2023 | Na stronie od 24/03/2023

*The museum building in Berlin Kreuzberg, designed by Daniel Libeskind; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe*

About us

The Jewish Museum Berlin is one of the outstanding institutions on the European museum landscape. Its new core exhibition that opened in 2020, its temporary exhibitions, collections, events program and the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy, as well as its digital and educational offerings make the museum is a vibrant place for dialog and reflection on Jewish past and present in Germany. ANOHA, the JMB Children's World, tells the story of Noah's Ark as a fun experience for children.

Our exhibitions, events, and diverse program address a broad audience from Germany and around the world. Our collections grow continually, thanks also to many donors from Germany and abroad.

A special focus is educational work – the extensive education program, the research opportunities in the library and archive, and the program of events are aimed at children, young people, and adults. In addition to guided tours and workshops, there are lectures and conferences, concerts and readings, and an annual cultural summer program. Our digital programs are also very diverse, including the museum's website, the JMB app, various online features on Jewish topics, online publications, online collections, and a media library.

The W. Michael Blumenthal Academy's programs provide a platform for discussion and reflection on the diverse issues raised by the work of a museum on German-Jewish history and culture. It is also a place for encounters and cooperation, where not only Jewish perspectives but also those of other religious and ethnic minorities have their place.

The museum is located in the heart of Berlin, in the Kreuzberg district not far from Checkpoint Charlie and the former Berlin Wall. The famous museum building by Daniel Libeskind has long since become a Berlin landmark. It is part of the Jewish Museum Berlin architectural ensemble, which further includes an old building from the Baroque period, the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy, and the ANOHA Children's World.

An upward view of the Libeskind Building during a sunny day The museum building in Berlin Kreuzberg, designed by Daniel Libeskind; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe

THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM BERLIN

The Jewish Museum Berlin opened in 2001. The idea to found a Jewish museum originated in the western part of Berlin in the period before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The journey from the basic idea to the design of the museum’s permanent exhibition was a long one marked by many disputes.

The original plan was to make the museum a department of the Berlin Museum, owned by the state of Berlin. However, when W. Michael Blumenthal, born in Berlin in 1926, was appointed director, this plan was abandoned. Blumenthal, who had emigrated to Shanghai at the age of thirteen and later to the United States, fought for and secured the institution’s independence. In 2001, responsibility for the Jewish Museum Berlin passed to the German federal government and the museum became a foundation under direct federal supervision.

Exhibition Design and Museum Opening

At the same time, the Jewish Museum Berlin became the sole occupant of the building complex on Lindenstrasse, comprising the old baroque building that had previously housed the Berlin Museum, and the addition designed by Daniel Libeskind.

Kenneth C. Gorbey, a New Zealand-born anthropologist and museum manager, and his colleague Nigel Cox designed and coordinated and set up the permanent exhibition. Gorbey and Cox had been involved in creating and planning Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum.

The Jewish Museum Berlin opened on 9 September 2001 with a festive concert conducted by Daniel Barenboim. At the subsequent gala dinner, German president Johannes Rau and W. Michael Blumenthal addressed 850 prominent guests from Germany and abroad, active in politics, business, and the arts.

Massiver, goldfarbener Metallschlüssel in schwarzem Kunststoff-Etui mit silberfarbenen Metallverschlüssen. This symbolic key to the Libeskind building was handed over to W. Michael Blumenthal on 22 January 1999 by Peter Radunski, senator of culture at the time, in the presence of Daniel Libeskind and Jürgen Klemann, senator of construction for Berlin; Jewish Museum Berlin.

The public opening was scheduled for 11 September 2001, but had to be postponed by two days due to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Upon the museum’s grand opening, the multimedia Rafael Roth Learning Center also opened in the basement of the Libeskind building. Until its closure in March 2017, it was a place for visitors to discover Jewish history and culture at twenty computer stations with diverse media applications, which featured documents, objects, films, audio recordings, and interactive games.

Around 700,000 people per year – or roughly 2,000 a day – have visited the Jewish Museum Berlin since its opening in 2001. On 19 November 2015, we welcomed our ten millionth visitor.

After some 15 years, the core exhibition was closed temporarily in December 2017 to bring the concept and design up to date with the latest research and museum standards. In August 2020, after more than a year and a half of reconstruction, the museum opened its new core exhibition Jewish Life in Germany: Past and Present. Spanning 3500 square meters (about 37,000 square feet), it portrays the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present with new thematic focuses and new scenography (more on the new core exhibition).

Innovative Approaches to Education and Research

From the outset, the museum has focused on educational work. From 2007 to 2018, our educational initiative “on.tour – The JMB Tours Schools” visited schools in all of Germany’s states with a tour bus and a mobile exhibition. Since 2019, we have been on the road with a variety of workshops themed around the new Jewish Places website and are currently developing new formats to accompany the new core exhibition (more on our outreach programs). In addition, the Education Department designs materials for school lessons.

A database of the museum’s holdings went online in November 2012 at http://objekte.jmberlin.de (only in German).

A new building by Daniel Libeskind was opened in 2012 – the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin. The related academy programs were launched in 2013 and consist of the Jewish-Islamic Forum and a thematic focus on migration and diversity.

In June 2021, the museum opened ANOHA Children’s World. The children’s museum welcomes preschool and elementary school kids to explore, play, and try things out. ANOHA was newly constructed inside a former wholesale flower market, across the street from the main museum building, and encompasses 2,700 square meters (more about ANOHA Children’s World).

Our Management

W. Michael Blumenthal, who was instrumental in creating and further developing the museum, stepped down as director in September 2014. In 2015, the Jewish Museum Berlin presented its founding director with the Prize for Understanding and Tolerance and in January 2016 it renamed the Academy the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy in his honor.

From 2014 to 2019, the internationally renowned Jewish Studies scholar Peter Schäfer served as Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin. After many years as the Program Director and Deputy Director, in 2017 Cilly Kugelmann was replaced by Léontine Meijer-van Mensch, who occupied this dual role until 2019.

The curator and museum manager Hetty Berg has directed the museum since 1 April 2020.

Archive & Library

Online Catalogs

To find out which books, magazines, documents and other media you may view in the Reading Room, you can search or browse our Online Library Catalog.

You can also find some of the holdings of the Leo Baeck Institute (search “Our Catalog” on www.lbi.org) and the Wiener Library (www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/Collections) on our premises. Each item's entry indicates whether it is also available on microfilm in our Reading Room.

The Public Stacks and Ordering from the Depot

Our library's public stacks, with over 20,000 books, are accessible to the public. Holdings whose “Location” in their library catalog entry is listed as Rare Book Library, Rare Book Depot, or Depot must be ordered in advance.

Please register by e-mail and let us know your preferred date and order preferences.

The Archive staff is happy to provide information on the holdings in its collection, which include bequests from nearly 1,700 individuals. Please contact the Archive staff to inquire about orders from the archival holdings. On our website, you will find more information about our Archive and the branches of the Leo Baeck Institute and the Wiener Library located there.

Technical Equipment and Databases

The Reading Room has a media station for DVDs and videos, two reader printers for microfilm and microfiche, and a book scanner. At the computer workstations, you can conduct research in digital reference sources, magazines, databases such as the Encyclopedia Judaica.

Both institutions and private individuals can sign up for databases covered by the national license of the German Research Foundation (DFG). This license gives you access in the Reading Room to:

The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion
Access via DFG national license in our reading room
World Biographical Information System Online (Jewish Biographical Archive)
Access via DFG national license in our reading room
Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook (1956–1995)
Access via DFG national license in our reading room

Additional full-text databases have open online access. We have compiled various recommended links for you on our website, including lists of digitized magazines and other online resources for researching Jewish topics.

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