From the beginning of September to the end of November, the city of Darmstadt wants to pay tribute to the diverse contributions made by Jews in the past and the present. Lectures, workshops, exhibitions, film screenings, concerts, theater performances and excursions are also planned.
The Jewish community in Germany is celebrating a special anniversary this year: Jews have been living in what is now Germany for 1700 years. From the beginning of September, the city of Darmstadt will honor the special anniversary with a diverse range of events with the program “100 days, 1700 years – Jewish life in Darmstadt”. More than 60 events are planned, which will be offered by more than 30 institutions and actors
The city’s intention is to remember the diverse contributions made by Jews in the past and the present and to honor them in order to “make the multifaceted Jewish life in Darmstadt even more visible and colorful,” as Mayor Jochen Partsch put it (Greens) at the presentation of the hundred-day program.
Darmstadt, according to the mayor, is “a city shaped by Jews”. The series of events is also “an important sign of appreciation and gratitude for what Jewish citizens have brought in and achieved for centuries”. At the same time, according to Partsch, “a clear signal against any form of anti-Semitism is to be set”. Hatred of Jews, as was recently also heard from the ranks of anti-vaccination opponents and supporters of conspiracy narratives, must be “vehemently and courageously countered,” said Partsch.
Daniel Neumann, the chairman of the Darmstadt Jewish Community, said it was challenging and at the same time impossible to present 1,700 years of Jewish life in 100 days. After all, it is about shedding light on Jewish life in the past and present on German and Darmstadt soil. And the Shoah also diverts attention from the fact that Jews “just want to be part of German society”.
In his greeting in the 44-page program of events that will be available in many places in the city over the next few days, Neumann writes: “We have changed, invested, sacrificed, fertilized and contributed, and were driven out, despised, evangelized, forcibly converted or destroyed. But we’re still there. “
In order to design the special program, the City of Darmstadt, the Jewish Community of Darmstadt and the Centralstation have teamed up with other cultural institutions and many civil society actors.
Lectures and workshops for children and adults, film screenings and concerts, art exhibitions and theater performances, excursions and radio broadcasts, a comic anthology and a film by and with young people bring centuries of Judaism back to life in and around Darmstadt and invite you to listen and participate . The program is generously funded by the Frankfurt / Rhein-Main Cultural Fund.
The soprano Megan Marie and the pianist Giacomo Marignani will organize a recital under the motto “Famous Musicians of Jewish Origin” in the Hessisches Staatstheater Darmstadt on Sunday, September 5th, from 6 p.m.
The program also includes lectures and events on famous artists of Jewish origin such as the painter Max Liebermann, the poet Paul Celan, the writer Jakob Wassermann, the poet Ruth Klüger or the architect Alfred Messel, who built the Hessian State Museum.
Further lectures will focus on aspects of Jewish history and contemporary Jewish culture. The many Jews murdered during the Nazi regime should also be remembered. The music program bridges the gap from Hasidic music and klezmer to operetta pieces and chansons.
Infos: https://100tage1700jahre.de
The Liberal Synagogue was regarded as an “adornment” of Darmstadt.
© Darmstadt City Archives
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