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An interview with Elena Bashkirova

Elena Bashkirova; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jule Roehr

On 21 April 2018, the Glass Courtyard of the Jewish Museum Berlin will be opened for the seventh annual chamber music festival intonations, featuring Händel’s “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.” Echoing our exhibition Welcome to Jerusalem, this year’s program features pieces that highlight the sanctity of Jerusalem. Elena Bashkirova, artistic director of the festival, took a tour of the exhibition then spoke with us about the “holy city,” the founding of intonations in Berlin, and the music that will be presented in the festival in the coming days: → continue reading

27 May 1934 – 6 April 2018

Reinhard Rürup; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Svea Pietschmann

The Jewish Museum Berlin mourns the loss of Reinhard Rürup. He died on Friday at age 83. Although as a historian his name is most associated with the Berlin Topography of Terror Foundation, the Jewish Museum Berlin also owes much to his work.

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Passover in Jerusalem

This miniature steamroller by the artist Avi Biran is put to work in the ritual search for leavened grain. If chametz is found in the house, it can literally make it flat as a pancake, Jerusalem 2008; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe. You can find this and other objects related in our German-language collection database.

The time before Passover always seems a bit chaotic to me. Jerusalem looks a little like a German city just before Christmas. Everyone has off work and is busy preparing for the holiday: there is a lot to buy for the seder evening, and many people buy new clothing to look sharp for the family dinner. In homes and buildings across the city, rags, brooms, and vacuums flail frantically. This spring cleaning has a religious motivation: → continue reading