Cultural Program in April 2015

12 April

German-Israeli Symposium (in English)

We don’t forget, we go dancing

German-Israeli encounters on the dance floor of life: Third generation authors from both countries come together in Berlin to discuss common features and differences in their views on contemporary pop culture, literature and the past. The first panel investigates "Pop Culture and Contemporary Literature – Remembering the Shoah between the Lines," while the second panel asks the question: "Unifying Mass Culture, Divisive Middle East Conflict?" With Yiftach Ashkenazi, Anat Einhar, Assaf Gavron, Katharina Hacker, Moritz Rinke, Jochen Schmidt, Amichai Shalev, Sarah Stricker, moderated by Christine Thalmann and Norbert Kron. A symposium by Norbert Kron, organized by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and the Radial Stiftung, supported by the Foreign Office in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin, produced by the culture and concept agency Graf & Frey.

Location: Old Building, ground level, Auditorium

Time: 3.30 to 7 pm

Admission: free

More information: www.dontforgetdance.com

13 April

Book Presentation with the Author (in German)

Barbara Honigmann: Chronik meiner Straße (Chronicle of my street)

Barbara Honigmann tells of the large wrenches and losses in life. Her memory book is devoted to a single street, the unassuming "Französische Straße," far away from Strasbourg city center where she has lived for over twenty years. There is no European Parliament or cathedral here. What there is, is diversity – different backgrounds and religions. What connects them all is the feeling of not being from "here." Barbara Honigmann encounters the whole world in miniature.

Location: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Time: 7.30 pm

Admission: 8 €, reduced rate 6 euros

Bookings: Tel. +49 (0)30 8824 250

18 to 23 April

Intonations The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival

From 18 to 23 April 2015, Elena Bashkirova is once more guest at the Jewish Museum Berlin with top class musicians from around the world. This year’s Chamber Music Festival is dedicated to late works. Starting with Johann Sebastian Bach, intonations spans a wide arc through Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Antonín Dvořák all the way to the New York composer Elliott Carter, who died in 2012.

Supported by Evonik Industries.

Running time: 18 to 23 April

Location: Old Building, ground level, Glass Courtyard

Admission: 20 to 24 €, reduced rate 16 and 20 euros

Bookings: Tel. +49 (0)30 25993 483/418 (Mo to Fr, 10 am to 4 pm) or: www.jmberlin.de/intonations

22 April

Book Presentation and Panel Discussion (in German)

Attempts to Describe Anti-Semitism: On the History of Research on Anti-Semitism before 1944.

Today’s antisemitism research is based on insights that were formulated during the Second World War and the Shoah. However, intellectuals and scholars described the peculiarities of modern political antisemitism in the 18th and 19th centuries. This transdisciplinary anthology is dedicated to these largely unknown description attempts. Following the presentation of brief insights into the book, the publisher Professor Hans-Joachim Hahn (Aachen) and Olaf Kistenmacher (Hamburg) discuss with Werner Treß (Potsdam) and Franziska Krah (Potsdam) the question of why early antisemitism research remained largely ineffective.

Moderated by Mirjam Wenzel

A cooperation with De Gruyter Publishers, the Center for Jewish Studies and the Moses Mendelssohn-Center

Location: Academy, Hall

Time: 7 pm

Admission: free

Bookings: Tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

27 April

Musical Prelude to the Opera "Valentina"

The Holocaust in Latvian Memory

"Valentina," the first opera by Latvian composer Artūrs Maskats (born 1957), celebrates a legend – Valentina Freimane, the film historian born in 1922. She spent her childhood in Riga and Berlin, where her father worked as a lawyer for the UFA studios and her mother belonged to the circle of film greats of the time. After returning to Riga, the family became victims of the Holocaust. While Freimane’s parents and husband were murdered, she herself survived the war in hiding. Today Valentina Freimane lives and works in Berlin and Riga. On 19 May 2015, the Latvian National Opera under the patronage of German Foreign Minister F.W. Steinmeier and Latvian Foreign Minister E. Rinkēvičs will perform "Valentina" at the "Deutsche Oper." The focus of the opening event at the Jewish Museum Berlin is the memory of the Holocaust in Latvia, also in view of the 100th anniversary of the state. The soprano Inga Kalna and the composer Artūrs Maskats will provide musical insights into the opera. Attended by Valentina Freimane

A cooperation with the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" foundation, the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia, and the Latvian National Opera.

Location: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Time: 6 pm

Admission: free

Bookings: Tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de