6 December 2023 at JEM Beaugrenelle
As a follow-up to the 34th Day of Jewish Culture and Books organised by Judaïsme En Mouvement (the Liberal movement in France), a conference will be hosted by Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur. It will bring together Charles Pépin, author of “Vivre avec son passé” (Living with your past) and Sonia Devillers, author of the novel Les exportés (The exported), a historical account of her Romanian Jewish grandparents.
Conférence: Sur les traces du passé… – Judaïsme En Mouvement (judaismeenmouvement.org)
26 November 2023 at JEM Beaugrenelle
A host of authors will be on hand to meet visitors at this latest edition, organised by Evelyne Vitkine and her team. Novels and essays tackling so many Jewish cultural and political themes. There will also be a talk on the iconoclastic American author Philip Roth. The day ends with the award of the “First Novel” prize.
30 November 2023 at Cercle Bernard Lazare
Rabbi Myriam Asckerman-Sommer and philosopher Michaël de Saint-Chéron, authors of the book “Revenir, dialogues sur les figures du retour dans la tradition juive” (Returning, dialogues on the figures of return in the Jewish tradition), will talk about this journey and its complexity. The book is published by Actes Sud.
Agenda | Cercle Bernard Lazare | Paris
28 November 2023 at the Caen Memorial
During the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews, the Nazis photographed the operation in order to provide their superiors with proof that it had been carried out. These photos were found by a survivor when the camps were liberated. A book has been published by Tal Bruttmann, Stefan Hördler and Christoph Kreutzmüller, compiling these photos. Tal Bruttmann will present the book at this conference.
L’Agenda · Mémorial de Caen (memorial-caen.fr)
30 November 2023 at the Association Cultuelle Juive de Nancy
Jean-Pierre Sakoun, historian and research engineer at the CNRS, looks back at the life of the famous Resistance fighter. The president of Unité Laïque has written extensively on current affairs from a secular and republican perspective. He was also behind the fight for the pantheonisation of Mélinée and Missak Manouchian, which will take place in Paris on 21 February 2024.
Association Culturelle Juive de Nancy – maison ouverte des cultures juives (acj55.fr)
16 December 2023 at the GIL
The GIL, which regularly organises cultural events, is inviting Benoit Gobitz to speak on the theme of “Joseph, from decline to regency… with irreverence”. He will explore the stages in the saga of the biblical character, sold by his brothers to become Prime Minister of Egypt.
GIL – Cercle d’études avec Benoît GobitzCommunauté Juive Libérale de Genève
Until 16 June 2024 at the JHI
This exhibition is devoted to the work of Isaac Celniker, born in Warsaw in 1923 and a survivor of the concentration camps during the Shoah. After the war, he studied painting and moved to Paris in 1957, where he died in 2011. The day before he left for France, he had created illustrations for Yiddish publications. These drawings, which have a strong autobiographical theme, will be on display at the exhibition, providing a better understanding of his history and Polish Jewish life.
Until 31 March 2024 at the Jewish Museum Amsterdam
The museum is devoting an exhibition to the American artist Sol LeWitt, presenting four huge wall drawings, as well as sculptures and archives. The emphasis is on his relationship with the Netherlands. Dutch institutions played a major role in his work in the 1970s, with his first exhibition taking place at the municipal museum in The Hague. For this exhibition, the artist who is one of the founders of conceptual art and minimalist art is working with students from the Utrecht School of Fine Arts, who are accompanying him in his creations.
Sol LeWitt – Exhibition | Jewish Cultural Quarter (jck.nl)
From 2 March to 26 May 2024 at the Museum Rembrandthuis
This original exhibition highlights the links between Rembrandt’s work and the Amsterdam theatre scene of his time. The famous painter seems to have been greatly inspired by theatrical staging and the presentation of characters. Rembrandt’s work does not show the range of feelings that explode onto the canvas, but rather the outcome in the next moment, the result of an emotional rollercoaster. Like the painting of Susanna, where she is surprised to be spied on as she emerges from the bath, or the painting Joseph accused by Potiphar’s wife (1655).
Directed by Rembrandt – Rembrandthuis
26 November 2023 at the Oslo Jewish Museum
Every year on this date, the museum commemorates the deportation of Norwegian Jews during the Second World War. Inger-Lise Rothschild Grusd fled to Sweden six months after her parents, hiding first in Norway with anonymous people. As an adult, she set out to find out more, and in particular to find those who had saved her. She told her story in a documentary broadcast on NRK, which will be shown on the day. There will also be a discussion on the evolution of anti-Semitism after the war.
Arrangement (jodiskmuseumoslo.no)
16 January 2024 at the National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights
Claude Marx, who is in charge of the archives of the Consistoire israélite, worked on the Commission for the Spoliation of Jewish Property in Luxembourg. In this talk, he looks back on his life as a child hiding in a town in the Berry region in France during the war, and on his commitment to the memory of the Shoah. Claude Marx was also President of the Consistoire israélite de Luxembourg from 2016 to 2017.
At the Riga Jewish Community House
Students from the Jurmala School of Art are exhibiting their work in the Riga Jewish Community House. An initiative in keeping with the tradition of this art school, where artists study the history, culture and art of a country in order to create works of art. More than 200 schoolchildren took part in the project.
23 January 2024 at the Museo Ebraico di Trieste
The museum is organising the presentation of historian Giorgio Fabre’s book devoted to this sad era. The book was published by Il Mulino. The evening will provide an opportunity to discuss contemporary research into the anti-Semitism of that period, when Italy was ruled by Mussolini’s Fascist regime. The evening is organised by Alessandro Carrieri and Tullia Catalan, members of the Humanities Department at the University of Trieste.
The Grand Council of Fascism against the Jews – Museo Ebraico di Trieste (museoebraicotrieste.it)
Until 18 February 2024 at the Musei Capitolini
On 16 October 1943, the roundup of the Jewish ghetto in Rome took place. 1,259 people were arrested, including 207 children. Most were deported and murdered. Yael Calo and Liz Toaff have brought together numerous documents from the period, including newspaper cuttings, drawings and photographs, as well as objects from everyday life, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the roundup. It is the result of a lengthy project carried out in partnership with a number of institutions and archives in the Eternal City.
Expositions – Musée juif de Rome (museoebraico.roma.it)
Until 4 February 2024 at MEIS
Born in Nice in 1939 to Italian parents from Ferrara, Leo Contini Lampronti grew up and studied in Rome and Milan. He moved to Israel in 1967 with his wife Marcella Mayer and their two children Saul and Rosa. Hava, their third child, was born in Tel Aviv. An industrialist, he increasingly devoted himself to his passion for art and became a painter after a long training period, thanks in particular to Naftali Bezem and Pietro Maria Bardi. From the 1980s onwards, he exhibited all over the world. His daughter Hava and Yael Sonnino-Levy have organised this exhibition at MEIS, which marks the return of the artist and his work to Ferrara.
21 November 2023 at the Jewish Museum of Ireland
Singer Carl Nelkin performs the repertoire of the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music, accompanied by pianist Maja Elliott. The Society was founded in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century by a group of composers who wanted to preserve Jewish folk music while creating a special genre of Jewish classical music. This original idea was inspired by Western classical music and Russian Romantic music, and blended with traditional Jewish music styles. This confrontation inspired the klezmer revival in particular.
Until 21 January 2024 at the Museo Sefardi
Following the depopulation of Spain, many musical instruments were abandoned. Artists have seized upon them to bring them back to life through works that require activation. In which components are introduced into the case, giving rise to original performances in each venue. In this case, the case symbolises protection, value and the impregnation of the human in the object. An abandoned object that stands the test of time and history and is reborn.
23 November 2023 at the CCLJ
This musical journey featuring Russian actor, director and writer Veniamin Smekhov and pianist and author of Yiddish poems Evgeny Kissin pays tribute to the Soviet Yiddish poets who fell victim to Stalinism. They were among the 13 Yiddish poets and writers murdered on the night of 12 to 13 August 1952, all members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. There will be a discussion with the artists after the show.
La Flamme Inextinguible – Poésie yiddish et destins des poètes juifs – CCLJ
Until 26 May 2024 at the Jewish Museum of Vienna
While war rages in the Middle East and Europe, the museum focuses on the definition of peace as the success of a civilisation. Jewish perspectives on notions of peace, but also the struggles waged in the name of these values, such as the fight for equal rights during the march for Civil Rights in America and feminism. The museum stresses the importance of this exhibition in the wake of the Hamas terrorist movement’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the omnipresence of violence.
Exhibition Detail | Jüdisches Museum Wien (jmw.at)
3 December 2023 at the Manchester Jewish Museum
This documentary presents a figure as little known as he was influential: Fred Stein. The young man was forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power. He discovered photography in Paris, a city that welcomed many refugee artists and inspired aspiring artists. His memorable photographs include portraits of Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein. His son, Peter Stein, made this rich and influential body of work available to the general public.
Manchester Jewish Museum — Out Of Exile: The Photography of Fred Stein
Until 5 January 2024 at the Jewish Museum London
This original concept allows different voices to be heard on a wide range of subjects. Community leaders, but also people with questions or expressing curiosity about these issues. This approach is inspired by the desire to honour London’s Jewish history and memory, but also to find answers to the challenges of tomorrow.
Pitch Up: Community Voices @ JW3 – The Jewish Museum London
10 December 2023 at the Vortex Jazz Club of London
The JMI Youth Big Band draws its inspiration from a wide range of musical styles, including Jewish music and the jazz of legendary American bands. The ensemble is made up of many artists, leaving plenty of room for initiation and improvisation. Further proof, if proof were needed, of this cultural capacity to give the best of oneself in the context of encounters and discoveries, with the unique desire to share a magical moment with the audience.
JMI Youth Big Band – Live at Vortex – Jewish Music Institute
Until 17 March 2024 at the Jewish Museum in Munich
In 1939, a decree was issued requiring Munich’s Jews to hand over their jewellery and other precious metals, including Sabbath candlesticks, to the local authorities. These discriminatory measures, which began when the Nazis came to power in 1933, became increasingly violent and led to the Shoah. This exhibition gives visitors an insight into how this tragedy was experienced by a Jewish woman from the same town who was simply trying to live her life.
Until 14 January 2024 at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt
With the help of numerous films, the exhibition provides a better understanding of the perception and representation of Jews in 20th century cinema. A look at Jewish directors on the fringes, actors such as Lilli Palmer and Peter Lorre, and film producers. This complex research was carried out by Lea Wohl von Haselberg and Johannes Praetorius-Rhein. Among the works on show are Arche Nora (1948) and Morituri (1948), by directors who survived the Shoah and returned to Germany in the aftermath of the war.
Exhibition: Out of and in focus – Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt (juedischesmuseum.de)
Until 1 December 2023 at the Augsburg Jewish Museum
This participatory approach enables schoolchildren in Augsburg to understand the meaning of the Jewish New Year and to use it as inspiration to redecorate the museum. From tradition to the different customs in the countries where Jews live, this wonderful encounter has been welcomed by all. The schoolchildren also designed greetings cards and honey-based dishes, which were then displayed in the museum’s collection.
Rosh ha-Shana – A new year in autumn? – Jüdisches Museum Augsburg Schwaben (jmaugsburg.de)
At the Museum of Turkish Jews
This exhibition is a collective work organised by the Museum of Turkish Jews, the Spanish association Red de Juderias, the Spanish Embassy and the Cervantes Institute in Istanbul, with the aim of highlighting Sephardic cuisine and history. Inspired by the book Sabores de Sephardi by author Javier Zafra, the exhibition features 27 creations. It’s a journey through flavours, but also through time, to rediscover the dishes that made the great tables of each era.
The Quincentenial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews – Homepage (muze500.com)
16 October 2023 at the GIL
This lecture, organised in collaboration with the ORT Asnières Institute’s Alumnis, will enable participants to relive the life of the numerous communities at the time of the Temple of Jerusalem, at the crossroads of civilisations and religions. It will also look back at the fabulous archaeological discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
GIL – Conférence de Jacques LevyCommunauté Juive Libérale de Genève
3 October 2023 at 12.15pm at the Great Synagogue Beth Yaacov
Many writers regularly take part in these meetings organised by the Community. They talk about their latest literary works relating to Jewish culture, and take part in discussions with the public and the journalists who host these events. Other events are scheduled for 12 December 2023, 13 February 2024 and 9 April 2024.
Until 18 October 2023
As in all the cities taking part in these Days, the theme of Memory chosen this year will enable visitors to rediscover Slovenia’s Jewish cultural heritage. Not only how long it has existed, but also how the traces that have disappeared or remain are preserved and shared today.
Sinagoga Maribor – Evropski dnevi judovske kulture 2023: Spomin
14 September 2023 at the Maisel synagogue
This famous quartet from the Czech music scene is made up of Ondrej Has, Marek Blaha, Matej Kroupa and Stepan Drtina. That evening, they presented compositions from the musical avant-garde of the inter-war and post-war years. Among the works performed are those by Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas and Antonin Dvorak.
The Pavel Bořkovec Quartet | Židovské muzeum v Praze (jewishmuseum.cz)