1 Villa Heimann-Rosenthala2 | Gartenansicht 2 3 a3 4 5 a4 6 a5 7 8 a6 9 10 a7 11 12 a8 13 a9 14 15 a10 16 17 a11 18 a12 19 20 a13 21 In View A Photo Essay by Arno Gisinger a1 Jewish Museum Hohenems / Villa Clara Heimann-Rosenthal, front a2 Jewish Museum Hohenems, back a3 Corner of former Jews’ Lane (left) and Christians’ Lane a4 Tenants of the former Jewish poorhouse (Burgauer house) a5 Former Jewish poorhouse, back a6 Salomon Sulzer Auditorium in the former synagogue a7 Square in front of the former synagogue with Brettauer house (left) and Sulzer house (right) a8 Tenant in the Brettauer house a9 Mikvah and former Jewish school before restoration a10 Emsbach a11 Villa Arnold Rosenthal (Schubertiade festival), back a12 Betting office in one of the court factors houses a13 View of the former Jew’s Lane between court factors houses and Sulzer house a14 - 26 Jewish Museum Hohenems, interior a27 Former Jewish poorhouse (left), in the former “Judenwinkel” (Jew’s Corner) a28 Tenants of the former “Judenwinkel” a29 Former inn “Zur Frohen Aussicht” (At the Happy Prospect) a30 Former Jewish school before restoration a31 Construction activity in the former Jewish quarter: Senior citizens home (right), Brunner house (left), and Elkan house (center) a32 Former court factors’ houses a33 View from the Emsbach a34 Tenants of the Kitzinger house a35 View from the Jewish quarter a36 The count’s palace a37 Jewish cemetery, entrance and hall a38 Jewish cemetery a39 Jewish cemetery [Israelitengasse in Hohenems, Fritz and Paul Tänzer (foreground), c. 1900. Photograph by Arnold Sueti, 22 Erwin and Uri Taenzer Collection, USA ] At Home: Diaspora. The Jewish Museum Hohenems Edited for the Jewish Museum Hohenems by Hanno Loewy | Hohenems 2008 23 Impressum At Home: Diaspora. The Jewish Museum Hohenems Editor: Hanno Loewy, Jewish Museum Hohenems Design: stecher id – Roland Stecher, Thomas Matt, Götzis Editorial assistance: Petra Zudrell, Patrick Gleffe, Andreas Brunner Copyediting (German): Maria Wäger Print: Bucher – Druck, Verlag, Netzwerk, Hohenems Photography of objects: Robert Fessler Translation: Judith Hayward Copyediting (English): Lilian Dombrowski, Luisa Jaffé-Brunner ISBN: 978-3-902612-69-4 Copyright © Jewish Museum Hohenems Jüdisches Museum Hohenems Schweizer Straße 5, A-6845 Hohenems www.jm-hohenems.at Contents Arno Gisinger 1 In View. A Photo Essay 28 Forewords by Claudia Schmied, Federal Minister for Education, Art and Culture Markus Wallner, Deputy Head of the State Governement of Vorarlberg Richard Amann, Mayor of Hohenems Eva Häfele, President of the Association of the Jewish Museum Hohenems Susan Rosenthal-Shimer, American Friends of the Jewish Museum Hohenems Hanno Loewy 36 Preface Hannes Sulzenbacher 46 The History of the Jews of Hohenems Wilhelm Frey 220 Christians' Lane and Jews' Lane Nanette Landauer 222 Reminiscences of my Life, 1933 Stefan Zweig 226 This Kind of Nobility Moritz Julius Bonn 228 An Atmosphere Hostile to Customs Aron Tänzer 231 I as the Object. Studied by myself Hugo Tänzer 234 Jom Kippur 1932 Jean Améry 237 On the Necessity and Impossibility of Being a Jew 240 „The Angels Danced along with us…“ A Conversation with Saul Hutterer about Dispaced Person in Hohenems after 1945 Monika Helfer / Barbara Steinitz 250 Charity Parcels Michael Köhlmeier 252 The Silver Spoon Kurt Greussing 256 The Folk Lore of Anti Semitism. On the Intonation and Use of Certain Words Sabine Offe 263 Memories, Knowledge, Wishes: Museum Stories Monika Helfer / Barbara Steinitz 270 Wilful Sophie Eva Grabherr 272 Letters to Hohenems. On the Fascination of the Hidden, on Objects of Museological and Historical Interest, and on the Rural Jewish Bourgeoisie in the Early 19th Century Michael Guggenheimer 285 Where Have they Gone?—„Jewish Houses“ and Turkish Citizens Vladimir Vertlib 292 The Exemplary in the Particular. A Journey to Hohenems Zafer S¸enocak 298 A Museum and its Present Felix Jaffé-Brunner 302 My Ties to Hohenems—A Life Long Quest Luisa Jaffé-Brunner 308 Some Episodes of a Hohenems Diary from 1979 to 2006 Yves Kugelmann 314 The Historic Borderline Principle. Swiss Jews and the Border Experience Isolde Charim 324 Diaspora. Hohenems and the Renaissance of Jewish Self-Awareness 330 Bibliography 334 Exhibits in the Permanent Exhibition 349 Contributors 354 Names 360 Acknowledgments 26 “Now I have to ask you something. With what do you want to install a Jewish Museum in Vorarlberg. The people their habe to bring the stuff in the dark.” Jenny Bollag-Landauer in an interview, February 1987 27 Cross-border dimensions Foreword by Dr. Claudia Schmied, Federal Minister for Education, Art and Cultur If we inquire about the meaning of museums today, we receive many different answers that all go far beyond their basic tasks as holders and active imparters of cultural heritage. Often the added value made possible by the museums’ work that can be of great economic significance is mentioned; sometimes the function of museums in the sphere of cultural tourism is empha- sized; the importance of museums for our social development is almost always named. For the Jewish Museum Hohenems these answers are all equally valid, as they are for many other museums too. But in addition many other parameters should be mentioned, quite clearly illustrating the socio-political relevance of this institution: For one thing, the importance of the Hohenems museum for Austrian treatment of its Jewish past and present should be mentioned. Along with the Jewish museums in Vienna and Eisenstadt, Hohenems is the institution that is best placed and therefore also best suited to communicate the cross-border dimension of its contents in a truthful way. Likewise the Jewish Museum Hohenems is significant as a place of discourse, as a place where even experimental thinking about social and sometimes also uncomfortable questions relating to migration and intercultural communication, Diaspora and networks, can take place, questions that transcend national, religious and cultural boundaries. Finally the role the Jewish Museum Hohenems can play in the formation of social aware- ness and its function as a model are of exemplary importance for the entire Austrian museum scene as it conveys the opportunities and potential that migration and cultural transformation have inherent in them. I would like to thank the director and his staff as well as the whole museum team for their great dedication, their courage in introducing innovations and their willingness to look far beyond the museum at the bigger picture. I wish the Jewish Museum Hohenems every suc- cess in the future! 28 Provocative questions—Exemplary stories Foreword by Markus Wallner, Deputy Head of the State Governement of Vorarlberg In the Vorarlberg magazine of August 2007 our museums were described as “places for trea- sure seekers and time travelers”. In his article with that title, Hanno Loewy wrote that muse- ums are places of the present where people satisfy their curiosity in their search for them- selves. In museums we can embark on journeys through time and plunge into the often over- looked corners of our world in which so much that will enrich our everyday lives and our per- ception can be discovered. Since it was founded, the Jewish Museum Hohenems has lived up to this high ambition to an amazing extent. And with its completely newly devised permanent exhibition it has yet again provided powerful inspiration in various respects to the museum world—and not only in Vorarlberg. With this conception the museum asks productive, multi-layered, sometimes even pro- vocative questions in the form of a narrative, but at the same time always leaves room for sub- jective memory. The permanent exhibition highlights the role that an intelligent exploration of questions of migration and acculturation can play in society and the present, for our prov- ince in particular. The Jewish Museum is making a considerable contribution towards our now being able to deal more openly with the position National Socialism occupied in Vorarlberg, and recog- nizing that there may be no taboo on accepting responsibility. The new permanent exhibition offers no final answers, it tends rather to ask questions, and tells exemplary stories. The Jewish Museum Hohenems has long been a highly regarded as a place mediating between regionalism and global development. The permanent exhibition—made possible by a high degree of private fund-raising—will undoubtedly lend particular power to these aims and attract new sectors of the public. 29 Openness to bridge-building Foreword by Mayor Richard Amann If we look at Hohenems and its development over the centuries, it is evident how much cross- border relationships and migration have influenced the town’s history from time immemorial. An important component of the town’s “European” identity is its Jewish history that started in the early 17th century. The counts of Hohenems at that time favored the formation of a Jewish community to enliven the market site—and the imperial county of Hohenems. In the coming centuries—in the face of much resistance—a remarkable coexistence developed that embraced many spheres of life, culture, education, business or even everyday communal life in clubs and associations. Towards the end of the 19th century increasing emi- gration by Jewish Hohenemsers to larger towns began. And in the 1930s National Socialism was to mean the end of the small remaining Jewish community—and at the same time the end of an important and typical part of Hohenems history. The history of Jewish Hohenems continued, albeit fragmentarily, in stories, finds and the places that were no longer associated with their former meaning and function. Restoring that association required the founding of the Jewish Museum—and the beginning of the wide- ranging, continuously conducted discussion process inextricably associated with it. It thus became possible to bring that history in all its facets back to mind, to make people aware of it und make it the content of a public debate.