Another Country

Photo series of the New Synagogue on Oranienburger Straße, Berlin, September 1987; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Mathias Brauner

Photographer Mathias Brauner (b. 1964) about his photo series:

Passing through a back courtyard, I reached a quiet, secluded area. A long-neglected construction-site fence separated the site of the synagogue from the surrounding area. Having crossed that barrier, I stood in front of the tall, dilapidated building. Trespassing the ruins was something special each time—it was a place from another time. Over a pile of rubble and the remains of a bomb blast that had torn a hole in the ceiling of one of the rooms, I made my way inside the building. Faded patterns on the walls, smashed doors, and split-open ceilings and walls immersed me in a bygone world. With my camera, I attempted to document my inner experience.

View of the exhibition room on East Berlin; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe

A wide spectrum of Jewish identities intermingled in Berlin, including religious, secular, socialist, state-aligned, and dissident perspectives. Being Jewish did not necessarily mean membership in the official Jewish Community. Returnee families often shared their experiences of persecution, their political beliefs, and a value system that arose from these commonalities.
East Berlin’s Jewish Community was the largest in the GDR, yet only had several hundred members. Its religious center was the Rykestrasse Synagogue, and its institutions included the kosher butcher shop in Prenzlauer Berg, the Jewish cemetery in Weissensee, and the community library on Oranienburger Strasse.

The eight-part audio and film installation Neuland (Germany, 2023; Jewish Museum Berlin), which runs throughout the entire exhibition, can also be seen on the exhibition view. In it, Yael Reuveny explores a country that no longer exists but has left distinct marks on the present. The projected films show points of reference in East Germany from the perspective of today. Voices from interviews link past and present and create a mosaic of Jewish life journeys.The voices of biographical interviews link past and present and merge into a mosaic of Jewish life journeys.

Torah curtain from the destroyed Old Synagogue of Magdeburg, Germany, 19th century; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of the Jewish Community of Magdeburg, K.d.ö.R, photo: Roman März

In the Association of Jewish Communities in the GDR Newsletter in June 1989 one can read about this Torah curtain:

In late November 1988, an antique collector showed up at our Community office and gave a Torah curtain to our chairman. We suspected that it had once belonged to our destroyed synagogue. We consulted experts from the Magdeburg Museum, who determined, based on the fabric and appliqués, that the Torah curtain had been made around the year 1850. And indeed, it was on September 19 of that year that the cornerstone for the synagogue in Magdeburg was laid, and it was consecrated by the rabbi Dr. Philippson on September 14, 1851.

View of the exhibition room on the seven other Jewish communities in the GDR; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe

In the cities of Dresden, Erfurt, Halle, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Schwerin, Jews made efforts to sustain their religious traditions in small Jewish Communities. These Communities suffered from attrition and aging membership. Kosher foods were imported from neighboring socialist countries. Likewise, rabbis and cantors traveled from abroad. Community leaders navigated a precarious balance between allegiance to the state and the risk of becoming its tool. The Communities served as second families for their members. Com­munal holiday celebrations and summer camps for the few children and adolescents reinforced their Jewish identities. The composition of the Jewish Communities was fundamentally reshaped by immigration from the Soviet Union after 1990.

Voices from our online feature with video interviews also provide insights into community life in the GDR.

Alice Zadek with her daughter Ruth and her nephew David Hopp on Stalinallee (Karl-Marx-Allee), Berlin, ca. 1956; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of Ruth Zadek, photo: Gerhard Zadek

Gerhard (1919–2005) and Alice Zadek (1921–2005) returned to Berlin from UK exile in 1947. They were founding members of the Free German Youth (FDJ) and had been part of the Herbert Baum resistance group before emigrating. In the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR, the Zadeks were integrated into the political system from the start. However, as former emigrants to the West, they lost all their roles and positions in 1953. After being rehabilitated by the government, they embarked on new career paths. In the 1980s, Judaism began to play a more important role in their lives, and they joined the Jewish Community.

View of the exhibition room with some important dates for Jewish life in the GDR; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe

Fear of antisemitic repression grew widespread among Jews in the early 1950s, leading to a mass emigration to the west in 1952 and 1953. The GDR leadership reacted to the Six-Day War of 1967 by intensifying its hostility toward Israel and pressuring Jews to take anti-Israel stances. The social upheavals of the 1980s, coupled with the looming end of the Cold War, led to an increased public interest in Jewish topics.

The historical background article by Annette Leo on this website or in the exhibition catalog also provides an overview of important caesuras for Jewish life in the GDR.

Marion Kahnemann, Henriette, Dresden, 1985, Ceramic, glazed; Jewish Museum Berlin, on loan from the artist, photo: Roman März

The artist, born in 1960, on sculpture:

In the mid-eighties, Henriette Schmager, a member of Dresden’s Jewish Community, celebrated her ninetieth birthday. Henriette was a modest innkeeper; her family had survived the Shoah by hiding on a small ship near Potsdam. Because her ninetieth birthday fell during the period when Erich Honecker wanted to improve relations with the US and, to that end, needed to paint a positive picture of the Jewish presence in the GDR, her birthday was pronounced a state occasion and celebrated at the best hotel in the city. Even East German television made an appearance and broadcast a segment on the Current Camera program. I remember Henriette standing in the hotel lobby looking lonely and bewildered among the many officials. She was wearing a dazzling blue dress with a big Star of David.

Listen to the podcast episode with Marion Kahnemann (in German) from the podcast: Jewish in the GDR. A Road Trip with Marion and Lena Brasch, a podcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Berlin.