The Jewish Museum Vienna is the most ancient one in Europe, celebrating its 130th birthday. But also one of the most active today. Here’s our interview with its director, Barbara Staudinger and its Media & PR head, Natascha Golan.
Are you participating in the European Days of Jewish Culture?
Natascha Golan: Yes. Sunday, 7th, September 2025, we’ll present two different events:
- 11:00h: #AskTheDirector with Museum Director Barbara Staudinger, inviting visitors to drop by and ask all types of questions related to the event, the museum and Jewish culture in Vienna…
- 14:00h: PRIORITY – Save the Art! What happens when there’s no time to think, but everything is at stake? Based on emergency procedures developed by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the Jewish Museum Vienna invites visitors to engage with its anniversary exhibition, “G*d. Reflections Between Heaven and Earth” in a completely new way. No calm browsing, no reading wall texts—this tour simulates an emergency. You have just eight minutes to choose one object in the exhibition that you would save first. What is most valuable? Most meaningful? Most irreplaceable? Your decision is marked with a specially designed card. Once the ’emergency’ is over, museum educator Hannah Landsmann shares the background, material, and history of each rescued object—whether it’s a rare textile, a medieval parchment, a precious piece of silver, or even a seemingly blank sheet of paper.
Can you share an emotional moment with a visitor or participant that happened at an event marking the museum’s 130th?
One of the most moving moments was when descendants of Jakob Bronner, one of the museum’s founders, visited from the U.S. following a family bar mitzvah in Vienna. Their presence at the unveiling of our new display case — and the following video message the grandmother recorded with her grandson — felt like a powerful homecoming and a living connection across generations.
Which other events will be organized in autumn related to that anniversary?
Our anniversary year continues with a wide range of activities, both online and onsite. One key project is our new podcast series, launched especially for the 130th anniversary. It explores the many roles of a Jewish museum today — from curatorial perspectives and educational work to behind-the-scenes insights into our archives. It’s an ongoing conversation about Jewish culture, memory, and responsibility.
On social media, we dedicate every Wednesday to a special anniversary post, spotlighting people, objects, and moments connected to 130 years of Jewish museum history.
There is a digital tour of our collection focused on the world’s first Jewish museum, opened in Vienna in 1895.
Coming in November: a special exhibition window and a “Jubilee Highlights” tour — a curated intervention in our permanent exhibition featuring, Jakob Bronner, one of the museum’s original founders. It’s our way of connecting past and present through the spaces visitors know best.
Do you think Jewish cultural events are contributing to the fight against the rise of antisemitism in Europe?
Barbara Staudinger: Making Jewish history and culture visible can contribute to combating antisemitism — but only under certain conditions. It can be effective when it communicates that Jewish history is part of our shared history, when it highlights the diversity of Jewish identities past and present, and when it focuses not on a singular “Jewish contribution,” but on the broad spectrum of Jewish life and experience.
That said, not everything marketed as a “Jewish cultural event” necessarily serves this purpose. On the contrary, programs that perpetuate clichés or reduce Jewish life to a single theme may actually reinforce, rather than dismantle, prejudice.