My travels through Germany often bring me near traces of Jewish life. There are so many places now where Jews are no more since the end of the 1930s, but their memory is preserved and the places of memory are symbolically converted into cultural meeting points. Although there is a lot to talk about this issue too, as for now I will focus on the way in which the Jewish memory is introduced into the bigger narrative of a city without Jews.
My latest discovery was into the city of Perleberg, a former Hansa city with an interesting old town architecture.
Perleberg has the best maintained Jüdenhof in Germany. Situated on Parchimerstrasse 6a (previously Jüdenstrasse), close to the city center but on a side street, its entrance is symbolically marked by a big white arch. The Jewish history is introduced to the visitor on a big billboard in German, right at the entrance.
The Jewish community here, attracted by the opportunities of trade, went through different stages. Its first history dates back from the 14th until the 16th century, troubled times when the Jews were often the victims of unjust anti-Semitic trials and pogroms.
The second episode of Jewish history in Perleberg starts in 1800, when a new Synagogue is built and the community is flourishing, but again, only for a short time. In 1942, all the local Jews are sent to concentration camp and killed. Nowadays, there are no signs of organised Jewish life here and most probably no Jew is living here.
The space that was used before to keep the Jews isolated from the rest of the city is used nowadays for cultural encounters and as a meeting point where topics which include Jewish history and traditions are introduced to the wider public through conferences or art and photo exhibitions. Most events are hosted in a simple modern looking rectangular building on the place of the former synagogue, neighbouring a traditional timbered house.
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