The Jewish Museum in Berlin

When my friend Cindy and I visited Berlin in January 2013, we stopped by the Jewish Museum

Photo from online photo bank.

by mistake.  We thought that was where we were supposed to meet a friend from Duluth, but the place we were supposed to be was the Denkmal.  As it turns out, the point was moot.  Our friend was unable to connect with us.

We had spent the afternoon on the on-off bus,

Photo from on/off bus Berlin site.

and then at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

We walked from there to the Jewish Musuem and arrived around 4:00.  After failing to connect with our friend, we thought we'd check out the Jewish Museum.  When we got up to the ticket counter, we learned that we should have budgeted four hours for a visit to the museum.  We decided we didn't have the energy for such a long visit, so we found our way to another on/off bus and hopped back on.  We ended up near the Staatsoper Unter den Linden,

Photo from online photo bank.

and then walked from the Brandenburger Tor

back through the Tiergarten (in the pitch black of a winter's night, as opposed to this spring day scene)

Photo from Tiergarten site.

to our hotel.

On this trip, once again we got to the Jewish Museum in the late afternoon.  This time we had the advantage of the summer sun (it didn't get dark until after 10 p.m).

Photo from online photo bank.

Three buildings make up this museum.  It's really quite massive.  I was stunned to learn that the original building of the Jewish Museum was built in 1933, only to be closed in 1938 under the Nazis.  According to Daniel Liebeskind's site, "the original building [was] housed on the site of the original Prussian Court of Justice building ... completed in 1735 and renovated in the 1960s to become a museum for the city of Berlin."

Photo from online photo bank.

Another site claims the building remained vacant until 1975 when a Jewish cultural group "vowed" to reestablish a Jewish presence in the museum.  Regardless, in 1988 the Berlin government established a competition for an expansion of the Jewish Museum.  Architect Daniel Liebeskind won. 

After purchasing tickets in the old part of the building, visitors walk down steep set of stairs.  Once on the lowest level, we followed the "Axis of the Holocaust", the "Axis of Exile" and the "Axis of Continuity".

Liebeskind describes the path: "The first, and longest [of the lower level routes], traces a path leading to the Stair of Continuity, then up to and through the exhibition spaces of the museum, emphasizing the continuum of history. The second leads out of the building and into the Garden of Exile and Emigration, remembering those who were forced to leave Berlin. The third leads to a dead end — the Holocaust Void."  Personally, this was my favorite part of the museum.  It's spare and thought-provoking.

© Cyrus Penarroyo

The Holocaust Tower  is one of five "voids". Standing at the bottom of this tower was powerful and stirring.  Entering the tower, one has to open an extremely heavy door.  The space is dark and empty, except for a ladder built into the wall.  I felt the emptiness of the room, and the meaninglessness of the Holocaust.

Ten thousand iron faces cover the floor of another void tower.  Some sites have praised this tower as evocative of the lost Jews of Europe.  I've seen images on the web showing people walking on the faces.  I didn't see anyone doing this while we were visiting the museum.  It didn't seem appropriate.

A third void is the Garden of Exile.

This "garden" consists of 49 columns, somewhat reminiscent of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  The columns form a square, and feature olive willows growing from the top of the columns.  Walking through the columns, the ground surface is uneven.  The experience is disconcerting--I felt off balance and uncertain.


There are 11 tours of the permanent exhibit at an additional cost beyond admission.  These are the descriptions from the website:

The Jewish World in the Middle Ages offers a look at the Ashkenazi Jews.

Town, Country, Court examines the ways Jews took up business, trade and positions of influence within courts.

Jewish Life and Traditions explored cultural and religious behaviors, such as the laws of kashrut, and life events like circumcision.

Moses Mendelssohn and the Promise of the Enlightenment--focuses on the period of Jewish Intellectual development.

Between Assimilation and Self-Determination: German Jews in the Nineteenth Century-- an examination of Jewish emancipation, the socialist movement and political anti-Semitism.

Start of the Modern Age – Jews in the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic

The Jewish Response to National Socialism includes descriptions of exclusion, expulsion and the increasing fear of deportation and extermination.

Women in Judaism reflects on the role of women throughout history.

Through the Museum in Seven-League Boots – An Overview of the Museum's Exhibition, "Two Millennia of German Jewish History, an overview of the history of Jewish settlements and culture in Germany from late antiquity through the present.

Architectural Observations

Judaism, Christianity and Islam: A Cultural Historical Comparison

These tours look terrific, but these descriptions suggest the need for at least eleven separate visits.  It is a rich museum with a great deal to offer, but it is impossible to absorb everything.  That, of course, is true of most every museum in existence.  Personally, I think I will make a visit to this museum on every visit I make to Berlin in the future.  Ideally, I'll be able to go back enough times to take it in with a greater sense of appreciation on understanding.