Persönliche Begegnungen / Judentum

Basel has had a Jewish Museum for 50 years, with a cultural and historical collection that is unique in Europe. In 1966 it was founded as the first Jewish Museum in the German-speaking world after the war.

In 2016, it presents itself with the exhibition "Anniversary! The Jewish Museum of Switzerland turns 50" with new focal points and a new design. Judaism is presented by means of objects that originated in the past centuries, mainly in Europe: Clothes, kitchen utensils and door capsules for everyday life, but also synagogal jewelry for the holidays, for example the Torah shrine of the Jewish prayer hall from Solothurn. They bear witness to rural religious life in the 19th century.

A historical tour shows for the first time the history of Switzerland from the perspective of the Jews. For centuries, Jews were courted and suppressed, integrated and expelled. A signet ring from late antiquity, documents from the Middle Ages, books from early modern times, household objects from the 18th century show the life of Jews before their legal equality in 1866. The many congregations founded afterwards, testimonies of Theodor Herzl, but also objects of Jews who sought asylum in Switzerland during the Nazi era are on display.

And today? What is the current state of Jewish culture in Switzerland?


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.