The Jewish Museum Franconia in Fürth is happy to receive two silver-plated candlesticks on permanent loan. For the museum, the candlesticks above all have an ideal value, says museum director Daniela Eisenstein. They testified to Jewish life in Fürth and a “piece of historical oblivion.”
Candlestick from the inventory of a maternity hospital in Fürth
The two candlesticks originally belonged to the inventory of the “Nathanstift” maternity clinic in Fürth, which opened in 1909. The Fürth lawyer and philanthropist Alfred Louis Nathan donated it to his hometown. At that time the clinic was equipped according to the most modern medical standards. Its founder Nathan saw it as an aesthetic work of art. Sculptures, good crockery, paintings and the two candlesticks testified to this, says Daniela Eisenstein. At the opening, the wives of Alfred Louis Nathan’s cousins donated the silver-plated pair of candlesticks.
Saved from the garbage can
During the National Socialism, the city of Fürth deleted the Jewish founder’s name. After 1945 the monastery was renamed again. In 1967 it moved to the Fürth Clinic. There it was integrated into the obstetric department of the women’s clinic. In the course of renovation work in the 1980s, the Fürth Clinic sorted out old furniture and items for bulky waste. Much of the inventory was lost. A person working at the clinic saved the candlesticks from being disposed of.
On permanent loan to the Jewish Museum Franconia
They were privately owned until 2021. Since the “Nathanstiftung” still exists, the Jewish Museum Franconia gave the candlesticks to their rightful owner and received them on permanent loan for the exhibition. Today there is a secondary school in the building of the Nathanstift.
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