Priceless historical document from the Vatican – highlight of the exhibition in Cologne | Culture and Lifestyle in Germany and Europe | DW

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“Most importantly, there is a Jewish Museum in Cologne,” with these words Stefan Kraus, director of the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, began a press conference recently held in connection with the opening of the exhibition “In die Weite – Aspekte jüdischen Lebens in Deutschland “, which tells about different aspects of Jewish life in Germany.

Indeed, the construction of the MiQua Jewish Museum in the Archaeological Quarter of Cologne is already coming to an end. In the meantime, the exhibition will be held within the walls of the Columbus Museum. About a hundred exhibits, lent to museums around the world (some of the objects will be replaced during the year), tell the story of the multifaceted Jewish life in Germany. The exposition was launched as part of the festive program “1700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany”, which is being implemented in the Federal Republic of Germany throughout 2021.

Main exhibit courtesy of the Vatican

The main exhibit of the exhibition is a copy of the decree of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, issued in 321. It is considered the first written record of Jewish life in Central Europe. Only two historical copies of this document have survived to this day. The Cologne exhibition features one that is the property of the Vatican Apostolic Library. This list, made around 600, is the oldest copy of the edict. Usually the rarest historical documents of this kind do not leave the Vatican, but at the request of the Archbishopric of Cologne and in connection with such a significant date as the 1700th anniversary of Jewish life in Germany, an exception was made.

Archbishop of Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Wölki, Vice-President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Abraham Lehrer and Director of the Regional Union of the Rhineland Ulrike Lubeck accept the document sent from the Vatican

“The fact that this decree was brought to Cologne means a lot – both for me personally and for the exposition. Its delivery here and this exhibition will be an event that will arouse extraordinary public interest and attract attention both in Germany and throughout world, “said Abraham Lehrer, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and board member of the synagogue community in Cologne, speaking at the ceremony to receive a parcel with a historical document from the Vatican.

Rarities from the old geniza

The concept of the exhibition is striking in its novelty. Thus, paintings by representatives of abstract expressionism are hung next to ancient manuscripts, and art installations are adjacent to household items. The creators of the exhibition call this a “historical and aesthetic approach”. According to them, works of art provide a better illustration of those historical events about which no evidence has survived.

Artifacts from the Niderzissen geniza

Artifacts from the Niderzissen geniza

Exhibition curators Christiane Twiehaus and Thomas Otten from the Jewish Museum MiQua, as well as Marc Steinmann and Stefan Kraus from the Columbus Museum recalled at a press conference about the emotions summoned some of the exhibits from them when they first saw them and received permission to include these items in their exhibition. With particular excitement, scientists spoke about the genise found in 2011 in the West German town of Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Geniza is an Hebrew word derived from the Old Persian language. It means the place of storage of worn-out Torah scrolls, sacred texts from the Tanakh, Talmud, prayer books and their fragments containing the names or epithets of God, as well as religious objects, the destruction and desecration of which is prohibited by Jewish religious norms.

Genise in Niederzissen was accidentally discovered in the attic of a local synagogue, when a major renovation was about to be done in its building. Under a layer of dirt and dust lay parchment manuscripts, old prayer books, and religious objects. According to experts, the oldest item found is a Torah pennant from 1653. This geniza is one of the most significant repositories of this kind found in Germany to date. At one time, 400 Jews lived in Niederzissen. Today there is not a single resident of the Jewish faith here. Objects from the Niderzissen geniza are now on display in an exhibition at the Columbus Museum.

Collection of photographs of synagogues donated to Frederick I

The exhibition also presents a unique collection of photographs of the synagogues of Baden, a region in the southwest of modern Germany. Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, who ruled here from 1856-1907, pursued a liberal policy. In 1862, 10 years earlier than other German states, the parliament of Baden approved the radical law “On the civil equality of Israelis” signed by Frederick I, which put Jews on an equal footing with other citizens.

As a token of gratitude, the Upper Council of Israelis, established in Baden in 1809 as a regional association of Jewish residents, donated a chest of photographs of Baden synagogues to the Grand Duke for his 70th birthday. Over the years, this collection was lost and rediscovered only in 1995. The photographs included in it show 13 Baden synagogues. During the Nazi regime, eleven of them were destroyed.

Installation Civil Tragedy

Installation “Civil Tragedy”

This exhibition is also documentary evidence of the genocide of the Jewish people, justified by Nazi ideology. It tells about the terrible catastrophe of the German Jews, which occurred as a result of the Nazi policy of their systematic destruction, about the gigantic human sacrifices and the brutal blow to Jewish culture that the Holocaust inflicted. In modern Germany, great importance is attached to the development of a culture of memory and rethinking its past – so that the crimes of Nazism will never be repeated …

The exhibition “In die Weite – Aspekte des jüdischen Lebens in Deutschland” will be open until August 15, 2022.

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