The exhibition displays objects that have entered the museum over the decades as ‘Jewish’ items or have been classified as such. What can be said about their origins, significance and history? And what personal stories are associated with them?
The focus is on items from the collection of the Hamburg Society for Jewish Folklore that were long believed to have been lost. Their collections were on display in the museum on loan from 1913 until they were removed from the exhibition in 1935 and returned to the Society in 1937. Some of the Society’s members went into exile in the years that followed, whilst others were deported and murdered. The collection is now considered largely lost. Since 1990, ten objects have returned to the museum.
The exhibition raises questions about the museum’s history and its role during the Nazi era. Were employees affected by policies of persecution and expropriation, and how did the museum benefit from these policies up to 1945 and thereafter? It also examines the very image of ‘Jewishness’ that was conveyed through collecting and exhibiting. An explanation of the provenance research into Nazi-looted art carried out since 2021 draws attention to contemporary issues and perspectives.
Supported by the Exhibition Fund of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the German Centre for Lost Cultural Property. In cooperation with the Institute for the History of German Jews (IGdJ).