20 February 2025, 7.30pm at the Portuguese Synagogue
The synagogue regularly organises this kind of cultural gathering, combining the warmth and history of the place with contemporary artistic performances. It’s a chance for participants to be gently transported between past and present.
Candlelight Concert | Jewish Cultural Quarter
Until 23 February 2025 at the Nationaal Holocaustmuseum
More than eighty photographs illustrate the development of the National Holocaust Museum over the last three years. They provide a better understanding of the issues and decisions taken by the museum’s employees. Not just the management and the historians and artists. But also the carpenters, architects, interior decorators, exhibition builders, electricians, trainees, restorers, cabinet makers, photo, film and audio technicians, security experts, horticultural advisers, cleaners, lighting designers, fitters, fundraisers… who have contributed and continue to contribute to the museum’s evolution and its presentations. With portraits by Coco Olakunle and documentary photographs by Nienke Fonk and Iris Haverkamp Begemann.
Behind the scenes exhibition | National… | Jewish Cultural Quarter
27 January 2025, 7pm, Place de la Synagogue, Esch-sur-Alzette
To mark the annual commemoration of the Holocaust, events are being organised in Esch-sur-Alzette, this year marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War.
At the Latvian Jewish Museum
The main theme of this virtual exhibition is an individual’s behaviour in the face of the tragedy unfolding around them. As such, Latvian artist Aleksandra Beļcova is exhibiting her work as part of the ‘Art and the Holocaust: Reflections for a Common Future’ project. Her drawings included in the ‘Riga Ghetto Series’ and produced after the war and until the artist’s death in 1981 were kept in her home by her daughter Tatjana Suta. When she died in 2004, the flat was converted into a museum. The virtual exhibition was created by the museum in cooperation with the Latvian National Art Museum. All the works in this series are presented in four thematic sections: ‘Jews in the streets of Riga and in the ghetto’, ‘Imagining the unthinkable: scenes of murder’, ‘Mother in mourning’, ‘Self-portrait – Requiem for tragedy’. The exhibition is rounded off with a story about the Riga ghetto and the artist Aleksandra Beļcova.
The Riga Ghetto in the Drawings of Aleksandra Beļcova – Muzejs “Ebreji Latvijā”
Until 14 January 2025 at the Jewish Museum Venice
The guitar of the legendary troubadour Bob Dylan travels the world and his words the ages. Thanks to his words, the artistic itinerary of his teacher, Norman Raeben, between America and Paris has been reconstructed. Around forty of the painter’s works are exhibited in a vast space, tracing his artistic development, his encounters with Chagall, Soutine and Matisse, and his influence on many American artists, Jewish intellectuals and immigrants of Yiddish culture. With portraits of New York Jewish artists and intellectuals such as Sholem Aleichem, Mary Adler, Bob Dylan, Seymour Osborne and Stella Adler.
Norman Raeben (1901-1978). Peinture errante – Ghetto de Venise
Until 31 August 2025 at the Thessaloniki Jewish Museum
This exhibition, presented by the museum in partnership with the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, gives visitors a better understanding of the history of the period of occupation in the city thanks to previously unpublished historical documents and, in particular, photographs of German soldiers during the Occupation. The photographs were taken by collector and researcher Andreas Assael, a member of a Jewish family that went into hiding during the Holocaust. These soldiers, who witnessed and participated in the many forms of barbarism directed against the Christian population and especially the Jews of Thessalonica, are presented in this exhibition.
Instantanés des conquérants 1941-1944. La collection Assael
From 20 January to 3 February 2025 at the Museo Sefardi
From October 2024 to April 2025, the museum will be exhibiting some of the items stored in the prayer room warehouse. The aim is to give visitors the chance to discover rarely-seen pieces. The pieces have been selected by museum staff for their uniqueness and interest. Every Wednesday, they give a short presentation of that week’s chosen piece to interested members of the public. Afterwards, this experience of opening up the collections is shared on social networks. On Wednesdays 22 and 29 January, one of the museum’s librarians, Bárbara Pardo, will be revealing the secrets of an introductory book on palaeography and the illustrations hidden inside.
16 January 2025, 6.30pm at the Museo Sefardi
As part of the temporary exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Museo Sefardí, a series of lectures has been scheduled to enlighten participants on the history of the museum and that of Spanish Jewry since the 14th century. This January’s lecture will be given by Ventura Leblic García, a specialist in heraldic genealogy, who will take this opportunity to interpret the symbols displayed on the synagogue’s walls, which are sometimes more complex than they appear.
17 and 24 February and 3 March 2025 at the Danish Jewish Museum
In three lectures, Sara Fredfeldt Stadager and Signe Bergman Larsen tell the story of the liberation of Denmark and the return of refugees from Sweden. The joy expressed at the great news of the end of the liberation of the country, but also the return with the strange challenge of combining awareness of this history, so painful and so close, with the need to return to everyday life. This was the case for 18,000 Danish refugees in Sweden, 8,000 of whom had fled in 1943 because of the persecution of Jews by the Nazis.
After the liberation – The traces of the war among Danish Jews – jewmus
27 January 2025, 7pm at the Danish Jewish Museum
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous concentration camps created during the Second World War. In Denmark, Auschwitz Day is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Shoah and other genocides, in order to perpetuate the memory but also to prevent such risks for future generations. At 7pm, Janus Moller Jensen, Director of the Danish Jewish Museum, welcomes the participants. This was followed by speeches from Peter Hummelgaard, Minister of Justice, a representative of the Danish Jewish community and the ambassadors of Poland, Israel and Great Britain. There will also be testimonies from survivors and historians, and lightings.
28 January 2025, 7.30pm at the Arenberg Theatre
The Shoah was particularly devastating in Antwerp, where many of the local authorities were zealous. In the summer of 1942, the Antwerp authorities collaborated with the German occupiers to arrest and deport over 10,000 Jews, very few of whom survived. Pupils from the Lycée Royal set out to explore this painful period by meeting descendants of the Jewish victims, as well as the police officers involved. As in The Interview (about Afghan refugees) and Lost in Transition (about a lost generation in Serbia), Thom Vander Beken blends past and present, trauma and silence, acknowledging responsibility and shirking it. The film is being screened to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the presence of the director. The film was made in partnership with the Kazerne Dossin and the Vredescentrum.
Film: The last Jewish summer | Kazerne Dossin
27 January 2025, 7pm at the CCLJ
Survivors of the Shoah often did not have the time or the personal and psychological means to confront the immense horror they and their loved ones had suffered. This silence both protected and burdened the second generation, as Chantal Akerman’s masterful work has shown. To mark the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Shoah, the CCLJ is highlighting this theme of hope and resilience: the rebuilding of individuals and communities after the liberation of the camps, 80 years on. The evening is built around testimonies from survivors of the Shoah and their descendants. An exhibition in the rotunda, in collaboration with the Jewish Museum, highlights the role of post-war Jewish holiday camps as symbols of renewal, solidarity and transmission.
CCLJREMEMBER2025 | Au-delà de la survie – CCLJ
12, 19 and 26 January 2025
This series of tours, taking place mainly in January, allows visitors to explore the two museums devoted to Viennese Jewish life. The one at Dorotheergasse and the other at Judenplatz, each dealing with different aspects and periods of Austria’s rich and complex Jewish history. Each one also regularly offers surprising temporary exhibitions.
Events | Jüdisches Museum Wien
2 February 2025, from 10am to 11am at the Hohenems Jewish Museum
This two-part tour allows participants to discover the various facets of everyday Jewish life and Jewish history at the Jewish Museum, but also in the old Jewish quarter of Hohenems. The tour takes visitors past private and public buildings, from the synagogue and Jewish school to the mikveh and Jewish hospice, most of which have been renovated over time.
Permanent Exhibition and Jewish Quarter | Jüdisches Museum Hohenems
At the Freud Museum
This is the 21st in a long series of thematic meetings that began on a summer evening in 2022. It’s a bit of an improvisation, simply because the participants wanted to extend the experience of questioning around the theme of the ‘ethical position’, a central theme for psychoanalysts currently working in the midst of the war in Ukraine. Françoise Davoine and Gérard Fromm will be meeting psychoanalysts, psychologists and other interested professionals from Ukraine and other countries. Previous meetings are available on YouTube.
Psychoanalysis under Conditions of War – www.freud-museum.at/en
16 January 2025, 4pm at the Manchester Jewish Museum
‘The Crafty Corner is a space encouraging artistic expression and experimentation. A series of workshops built around objects from Manchester’s Jewish Museum will provide a deeper understanding of an ancient craft that has been lost over time. The workshop both pays homage to it and reintroduces it into the present. In January, the ceramics workshop led by artist Irina Razumovskaya explores the tradition of Sephardic wedding rings, known for their intricate house designs symbolising home and belonging to Jewish culture.
Manchester Jewish Museum — The Crafty Corner: Ceramic Jewellery with Irina Razumovskaya
From February 2025
This online exhibition allows visitors to digitally explore the archives of the Munich Jewish Museum relating to survivors of the Shoah. By exploring the research carried out on the sites of post-war Jewish history in Munich and the fate of these displaced persons. In this way, Munich’s urban space is explored from the point of view of these displaced people, following their experiences over the years.
Jüdisches Museum München – Preview
30 January 2025, 7pm at the Jewish Museum Berlin
Hans-Gerd Koch, a German specialist in Kafka’s work, presents this approach in this lecture, outlining the author’s perception of artistic creation and his approach to visual art. He will also explain how adapting Kafka’s work into images helps us to better understand certain elements of his work.
Access Kafka – Kafka and Art | Jewish Museum Berlin
9 February 2025, 4pm at the Drancy Shoah Memorial
As part of the Drancy Meetings series, the Memorial is organising a conference with Miguel Haler, writer and musician, and Saimir Mile, lawyer and president of the association La voix des Rroms, moderated by the journalist Eduardo Castillo. This meeting will provide a better understanding of the history of those known as ‘Romanis, Gypsies, Sinti, etc.’. And the prejudices to which they were and still are subjected. During the Second World War, several hundred thousand Romanis were murdered by the Nazis.
Free shuttle buses leave from the Shoah Memorial in Paris at 2pm on the outward journey and 5.45pm on the return journey.
Mémorial de la Shoah | Boutique en ligne
From 28 January to 6 February 2025 at Espace Rachi – Guy De Rothschild
Since 2021, the Dia(s)porama Festival has been showcasing the classics and never-before-seen nuggets of Jewish cinema. Created by the Centre d’Art et de Culture – Espace Rachi and the FSJU, it shares these works from around the world in all the French regions thanks to local partnerships. A crossing of fields and songs of emotions. Like Jewish humour, Jewish cinema is not the monopoly of Jews. It is a presentation of themes linked to this culture, as Alexandre Arcady, President of the Fiction Jury, reminds us.
One of the highlights of these presentations at the Espace Rachi will be the screening of ‘Colleyville’ by Dani Menkin on 5 February at 8pm, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Hypercacher attacks. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Manuel Valls, former Prime Minister, and Richard Odier, President of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Director General of the FSJU.
And don’t forget the ‘Witnesses to 7 October’ day on 9 February, with the screening of Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Screams Before Silence’ at 3pm, followed by a debate with writer Sarah Barukh and Sarah Aizenman, president of the ‘Nous vivrons’ (We’ll Live) collective, moderated by Lise Benkemoun, artistic director of the Dia(s)porama Festival. Then, at 5pm, the screening of ‘Looking For Yotam’ by Caroline Bongrand and Georges Benayoun, followed by a discussion with them.
The following films will also be shown at Espace Rachi: Edward Sloman’s ‘Surrender’ on 2 February at 3.30pm, Roberto Otero Morfa’s ‘Between the Stone and the Flower’ on 6 February at 6pm, Julia Mintz’s ‘Four Winters’ on 6 February at 8pm and Adam Breier’s ‘All About the Levkoviches’ on 10 February at 7.30pm. The Jury Prize, Audience Prize and Student Prize will also be announced on 10 February.
Diasporama – Accueil – Diasporama
From March 7 to 9, 2025 near Paris
I’m talking to you about a time that 20-year-old Limmudniks must know! Indeed, the great meeting of Jewish cultural sharing on numerous themes over a weekend is celebrating its 20th anniversary. With the main theme “Like a Jew in France?” The great times since the promises of 1789, reinforced by Napoleon then the Dreyfusards and the versatile contributions of the Jews to their homeland motivated the famous expression “happy as a Jew in France”. Faced with the questions, concerns and dangers of various times, how have the Jews met these challenges? More than 150 conferences, round tables and workshops will attempt to answer them, all in the famous Limmud spirit.
From 23 January to 30 January 2025 in Nice
Since 2021, the Dia(s)porama Festival has welcomed both classics and previously unseen nuggets of Jewish cinema. Created by the Centre d’Art et de Culture – Espace Rachi and the FSJU, it shares these works from around the world throughout the French regions thanks to local partnerships. Journeys into the imaginary and the imaginable. As Alexandre Arcady, President of the Fiction Jury, points out, the aim of Jewish cinema is to present and preserve memory and nostalgia, and to help pass them on.
Cinéma Le Belmondo will be showing: ‘Le Choix du Pianiste’ by Jacques Otmezguine on 23 January at 8pm, ‘Yaniv’ by Amnon Carmi on 29 January at 8pm and ‘Avenue of the Giants’ by Finn Taylor on 30 January at 10.30am. And at the Consistoire de Nice: ‘Looking for Yotam’ by Caroline Bongrand and Georges Benayoun on 30 January at 7.30pm.
Diasporama – Accueil – Diasporama
19 January 2025, 2.30pm at the Jeu de Paume
This film, considered to be one of the greatest cinematographic works of all time, was made by Chantal Akerman at the age of 25! Just like Orson Welles for another of the indisputable monuments: “Citizen Kane”. Over three hours long, this is a deeply moving film about the status of women, about the imprisonment of women behind the conventions and expectations of society, with a masterful performance by Delphine Seyrig. But it is also about the painful silences of the survivors of the Shoah, building a dam in the face of History in order to rebuild their lives, and from which their children’s generation, like Chantal Akerman, will suffer. A film that is best appreciated by seeing the director’s other works from that era, such as ‘Je, Tu, Il, Elle…’ and ‘Les Rendez-vous d’Anna’.
Jeanne Dielman, de Chantal Akerman – Jeu de Paume
19 and 27 January 2025 at the Shoah Memorial in Paris
The Memorial offers these essential encounters with these heroic women, survivors who share their stories with many generations of young people in order to perpetuate the memory of the Shoah and prevent the return of dark times by sharing universal and resilient values. These conversations will be hosted by journalist Ilana Ferhadian and writer Sarah Barukh.
Mémorial de la Shoah | Boutique en ligne
A large series of meetings are planned for 2025. These include, at the start of the year, a lecture on ‘The French Revolution and human rights’ by Loris Chavanette on 13 January, another on ‘Interpreting and thinking the Real. On the theory of knowledge of Ibn Rushd and Spinoza’ by Salim Mokaddem on 20 January and the presentation of Christian Amalvi’s book “Mitterrand and culture” on 11 February.
IUMAT – Institut Universitaire Maïmonide – Averroès – Thomas d’Aquin
5 June 2025 at 7pm at the Rachi Institute of Troyes
An astonishing lecture that has the great merit of presenting a little-known aspect of the French musical icon. Do all the paths of the modern era go hand in hand with klezmer and/or jazz for a few notes to restore joy and hope? These are the questions that Nathan Kuperminc, Didier Francfort and an accordionist are likely to raise, as well as those that will come to your musical mind…
Conférences – Institut Universitaire Européen Rachi
Until 15 March 2025 at the European Centre of Deported Resistance Members
British photographer Michael Kenna has spent fifteen years travelling across Europe to capture the remains of Nazi camps on the continent. His motivation came from seeing a photo of the Auschwitz camp when Kenna was studying in London, and a visit to the Natzweiler concentration camp in 1986. The exhibition features 41 photographs, 17 of which are exceptional prints by the artist. Kenna donated 301 negatives and prints to France in 2000, in order to perpetuate the memory.
Michael Kenna, photographies du camp de concentration de Natzweiler – Mémorial Struthof
23 January 2025 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg
This event celebrates two anniversaries. That of two decades of action to safeguard and promote European Jewish heritage, and the 20th anniversary of the designation of the European Route of Jewish Heritage as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. Numerous senior officials from French and European institutions, as well as the European representatives of the AEPJ, will be taking part in a rich programme of speeches and cultural walks around Strasbourg, including a visit to the Council of Europe and to the Synagogue de la Paix. There will also be a round table of experts presenting medieval Jewish heritage in Europe.
Cérémonie officielle : 20e anniversaire de l’AEPJ – European Jewish Heritage powered by AEPJ
From 28 January to 4 February 2025 at Cinéma Elysées Lincoln
Since 2021, the Dia(s)porama Festival has been showcasing the classics and never-before-seen nuggets of Jewish cinema. Created by the Centre d’Art et de Culture – Espace Rachi and the FSJU, it shares these works from around the world in all the French regions thanks to local partnerships. Journeys into the imaginary and the imaginable. Works that encourage knowledge of others and contribute to the fight against prejudice, as Ruth Elkrief, President of the Documentary Jury, reminds us.
Yaniv by Amnon Carmi will be shown at the Cinéma Elysées Lincoln on 28 January at 8pm, as will Burst the Silence by Eric D. Schaeffer on 29 January at 6pm, ‘Call Me Dancer’ by Pip Gilmour and Leslie Shampaine on 29 January at 8pm, ‘Checkout’ by Jonathan Dekel on 30 January 2025 at 8pm, ‘Avenue of the Giants’ by Finn Taylor on 2 February at 8pm, ‘A Real Pain’ by Jesse Eisenberg on 3 February at 8pm and ‘Dieu et le Chameau’ by Stefan Sarazin and Peter Keller on 4 February at 8pm.
Diasporama – Accueil – Diasporama
From 28 January to 6 February 2025 at the Espace du Judaïsme in Toulouse
Since 2021, the Dia(s)porama Festival has been showcasing the classics and never-before-seen nuggets of Jewish cinema. Created by the Centre d’Art et de Culture – Espace Rachi and the FSJU, it shares these works from around the world in all the French regions thanks to local partnerships. Journeys into the imaginary and the imaginable. As Ruth Elkrief, President of the Documentary Jury, points out, this festival is a window onto the history and diversity of Jewish cultures, through the prism of international cinema.
The following films will be shown at the Espace du Judaïsme in Toulouse: ‘Avenue of the Giants’ by Finn Taylor on 28 January at 7.30pm, ‘Dieu et le Chameau’ by Stefan Sarazin and Peter Keller on 2 February at 5pm and ‘Looking for Yotam’ by Caroline Bongrand and Georges Benayoun on 6 February at 7.30pm.