Special Exhibitions and Cultural Program in April, May, and June 2012

Special Exhibitions

Berlin Transit

Jewish Immigrants from Eastern Europe in the 1920s

After the First World War, Berlin was a place of refuge and a way station for tens of thousands of Jews from Eastern Europe, most of them refugees from Russia, Lithuania, and Galicia, escaping war, pogroms, or revolution. Jewish culture in Berlin blossomed with the community of Eastern European migrants, at home in many languages and with diverse networks. The exhibition invites visitors to explore the traces and fragments left by this multifaceted chapter of Berlin’s migratory history - through photos, books, audios, family mementos, paintings, and films from this period.

An exhibition by the Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation and the research project "Charlottengrad and Scheunenviertel: Jewish Immigrants from Eastern Europe in Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s" at the Eastern Europe Institute of the Free University of Berlin.

Opening: Thursday 22 March 2012, 7 pm

Running time: 23 March to 15 July 2012

Where: Old Building, first level

Admission: 4 €, reduced rate 2 euros

Russians Jews Germans

Photographs by Michael Kerstgens Since 1992

The immigration of Jews from the states of the former Soviet Union since the 90s has fundamentally changed the Jewish communities in Germany. Michael Kerstgens is one of the few photographers who has recorded this process over an extended period. In his work, he observes both the social and religious challenges faced by Jewish immigrants and the situation of the long-time residents. Religious festivals and social activities of the Jewish community, everyday scenes in temporary accommodation, and private moments of family life all have their place in Kerstgens’ collection of expressive images. The pictures tell of farewells and starting anew, of arriving and staying, of the longing to belong, and of religious tradition.

Opening: Thursday 19 April 2012, 7 pm

Running time: 20 April to 15 July 2012

Where: Libeskind-Building, ground level, Eric F. Ross Gallery

Admission: with the museum ticket (5 €, reduced rate 2.50 euros)

Program Accompanying the Special Exhibition "Berlin Transit"

The pipe smoker stands at Zoo station and watches Europe

Literature Salon on "Berlin Transit"

"I fear you won’t believe me - I have grown fond of Berlin." In the Romanisches Café in 1923, Ilja Ehrenburg uttered what was on the lips of many Eastern Jewish migrants: even though Berlin was not a place they longed to be, it was more than just a place of asylum. In diaries, newspaper articles and literary texts, these migrants described their daily lives in Berlin between diversity and democracy, homesickness and isolation - in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and German.

The Berlin Literary Colloquium and the Jewish Museum Berlin invite you to the literary salon to rediscover with Irina Liebmann and other contemporary authors these diverse voices from Berlin of the 1920s and compare them to life here today.

A cooperation with the Berlin Literary Colloquium.

When: Thursday 31 May 2012, 7.30 pm

Where: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Admission: 9 €, reduced rate 7 euros

Ticket reservation (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

Monday Movies

Jewish Luck (original title: Jidische Glikn)

Silent movie by Alexej Granowsky

(USSR 1925; based on a story by Scholem Aljechem, 100 mins., English subheadings). The film shows episodes from the life of Menachem Mendel’s life in the shtetl, filmed at the original locations. The director Alexej Granowsky, founder of the state Jewish theater GOSET in Moscow, remained in Berlin during the 1920s following a guest performance here.

When: Monday 16 April 2012, 7.30 pm

Red Zion.

Documentary film by Evgeny Tsymbal

(RU 2006, 52 mins, original version with English subtitles)

This film about the autonomous Jewish areas in the Soviet Union on the Krim and in Birobidzhan shows historical film material from the 1920s and 30s.

When: Monday 7 May at 7.30 pm

"Berlin Ecke Volksbühne"

(Berlin - a Square, a Murder & a Famous Communist)

(D 2005, 60 mins)

In her documentary, Britta Wauer combines historical film footage, comics, and memories to a portrait of today’s Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin’s Mitte district. A discussion with the director will conclude the event.

When: Monday 21 May 2012, 7.30 pm

Hungry Hearts

Silent movie by E. Mason Hopper

(USA 1922, 84 mins, English subheadings)

The film tells the story of the Lewin family that fled the pogroms in Eastern Europe for the longed-for land, America. The harsh reality of life for immigrants on New York’s Lower East Side was different to the dream. Markus Krah, historian at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, will introduce the film.

When: Monday 4 June 2012, 7.30 pm

Berlin - Alexanderplatz

Feature film by Phil Jutzi

(D 1931, 88 mins)

This first filming of the novel by Alfred Döblin - who was also involved in the scriptwriting - was filmed mainly at the original locations.

When: Monday 18 June 2012, 7.30 pm

The following applies to all events in the Monday Movies series:

Where: Old Building, ground level, Auditorium

Admission free with seat ticket only (available at the cash desk).

Ticket reservation (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

Symposium at the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

Kibbutz: From Utopia to the Future

Accompanying the Exhibition "Kibbutz and Bauhaus - Pioneers of the Collective" at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

A century after the founding of the first Kibbutz in Palestine/Israel, a new longing for solidary communities is emerging in the face of current crises. While the Kibbutz has survived as a form of collective living for a small avant-garde, in an international context it appears to be more alive than ever before. With this backdrop, the symposium takes a critical look at the Kibbutz from its utopian founding history to the present day and considers various life stories connected with the Kibbutz model.

A cooperation of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.

When: Friday and Saturday 20 and 21 April 2012

Where: at the Jewish Museum Berlin (Friday) and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Saturday)

Symposium admission free

20 April: Program at the Jewish Museum Berlin (Old Building, second level, Great Hall)

5.30 pm: Hazorea - A Kibbutz in Northern Israel. Documentary by Ulrike Pfaff (D/IL 2009, 72 mins)

7.30 pm: Socialism and the Caribbean Feeling - German Kibbutz Experiences

Panel discussion with Micha Brumlik, Fritz-Rüdiger Volz, Ulrike Pfaff, and Edelgard Bulmahn, moderation and commentary by Cilly Kugelmann and Stefanie Schüler-Springorum

21 April: Program at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (Aula)

10.30: Kibbutz Architecture - A Retrospective

Talk by Zvi Efrat

11.30 am: The Kibbutz as a Risk Society. Talk by Eliezer Ben-Rafael

1.30 pm: The Kibbutz Movement and Settlers’ Fundamentalism. Talk by Micha Brumlik

2.30 pm: Concluding panel discussion moderated by Cilly Kugelmann and Philipp Oswalt

3.30 pm: Tour with the curators and discussion in the exhibition with Galia Bar Or, Nicole Minten, Werner Möller, and Yuval Yasky

Shuttle bus from Berlin to Dessau

9 am: Depart Jewish Museum Berlin

5 pm: Depart Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

Price including exhibition admission: 25 €. Bookings until 2 April 2012 on service@bauhaus-dessau.de or tel. +49 (0)340 6508250

Further information on www.bauhaus-dessau.de.

New Chamber Music Festival at the Jewish Museum Berlin

intonations. The Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival

This festival has united excellent musicians from all over the world for the last 15 years and has become one of Israel’s most important cultural events under the guiding hand of the renowned pianist Elena Bashkirova. The festival will now find a second home at the Jewish Museum Berlin and an exceptional stage for its mission - to bring artists from different nations together and celebrate a dialogue of cultures and a love of chamber music with the audience. Young talents and the internationally renowned will perform in the Glass Courtyard - Daniel Barenboim, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Guy Braunstein, Hélène Grimaud, Robert Holl, Emmanuel Pahud, Karl-Heinz Steffens, and many more.

With the generous support of Evonik Industries.

When: 24 to 29 April 2012

Where: Glass Courtyard, ground level

Admission to each concert: 20 €, reduced rate 13 € (reduced rates on the evening only) plus advance booking fees. Tickets (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or www.eventim.de.

Further Cultural Program

Hilde Schramm: My Teacher, Dr. Dora Lux

Book Presentation with the Author

"Dr. Dora Lux … was my history teacher in Heidelberg from 1953 … to 1955… Albert Speer is my father. My origins forced me into an early and continuing confrontation with Nazism. In finding myself, however, the influence of people who embodied a counter-world to Nazi ideology was vital … I owe such an experience to my teacher."

Hilde Schramm researched the life of Dora Lux over many years. Her teacher was one of the first female students to complete the "Abitur" (the highest German school certificate), helped pave women’s way to university, and became one of the first of the few female city councilors. In the Third Reich, she broke the law by not registering as a Jew - and survived.

In cooperation with the Literaturhandlung.

When: Tuesday 17 April 2012, 7.30 pm

Where: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Admission: 9 €, reduced rate 7 euros

Bookings (for non-journalists) at the Literaturhandlung on tel. +49 (0)30 8824 250

Henryk M. Broder: "Vergesst Auschwitz!" (Forget Auschwitz!)

Book Presentation with the Author

In his provocative essay, Henryk M. Broder exposes the bearing of ongoing commemoration shown by German politicians and public persons as "commemorative mania." He sees it as the politically correct guise of a new, "secondary" anti-Semitism skillfully camouflaged as anti-Zionism. It should bring relief. Israel is a "daily reminder" of Nazi crimes in Europe. The Germans will never forgive the Jews for that. For this to change, Broder urges us to finally lay the cursed memories to rest.

A cooperation with the Literaturhandlung.

When: Monday 30 April 2012, 7.30 pm

Where: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Admission: 9 €, reduced rate 7 euros

Bookings (for non-journalists) at the Literaturhandlung on tel. +49 (0)30 8824 250

Sonja Margolina: Brandgeruch (Smell of burning)

The journalist Tanja Legat goes to Moscow and Berlin in search of traces of a vanished artist. On this mission, she not only "sniffs out" an unholy alliance between the secret service and the Orthodox Church, but also throws herself into an amour fou that threatens to be the lovers’ doom. "Smell of burning" is a stunning political thriller and the story of a love that cannot be. Sonia Margolina opens the perspective of the system Russia and the connections between the church and the secret service, to which - it is feared - reality has little to add.

A cooperation with Berlin Publishers

When: Monday 14 May 2012, 7.30 pm

Where: Old Building, ground level, Auditorium

Admission: free

Cultural Summer Program Opening: Concert by "Habanot Nechama"

Since the release of their debut album in 2007, Karolina Avratz, Yael Deckelbaum, and Dana Adini have firmly established themselves in the Israeli charts as "Habanot Nechama." Before they came together as a creative trio, all three of them were already very successful solo singers. Their music style unites charisma, originality and wit - and they inspire audiences with their very own blend of folk, soul, and reggae.

When: Thursday 7 June 2012, 8 pm

Where: Glass Courtyard, ground level

Admission: 18 €, reduced rate 12 euros

Bookings (for non-journalists) on tel. +49 (0)30 25993 488 or reservierung@jmberlin.de

Peter Schäfer: The Origins of Jewish Mysticism

Discussion with the Author and Christoph Markschies

What is Jewish mysticism before the Kabbalah? Peter Schäfer, Professor of Judaic Studies at Princeton University, has written the first comprehensive history of early Jewish mysticism from the biblical book of Ezekiel to the so-called chariot mysticism at the end of the first millennium. Schäfer has thus closed a research gap in his consideration of the Hebrew Bible, the apocalyptic literature, the Qumran sect, Philo of Alexandria, and rabbinic literature. Furthermore, the book considers the teachings on the ancient human desire to get close to God.

A cooperation with Suhrkamp Publishers.

When: Monday 25 June 2012, 7 pm

Where: Old Building, ground level, Auditorium

Admission: free

The Sound of Prayer - A World of Cantorial Music

Concert and Talks

Renowned cantors from around the world - in Berlin for the 2012 Cantors Assembly Mission - come together for a musical journey through the history of Jewish liturgical music. The Jewish religious tradition has deep and ancient musical roots, while constantly developing and incorporating the music of their surrounding cultures. This unique musical evening introduces and celebrates the music of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions.

A gift to the museum from the Cantors Assembly.

When: Tuesday 26 June 2012, 7.30pm

Where: Old Building, second level, Great Hall

Admission: free