I S S N : 1 5 5 9 - 4 8 6 6 The Newsletter of the American Friends Volume 16 of the Jewish Museum Hohenems , Inc. May 2015 I N T OUCH M AY 2 0 1 5 L ETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT T IMOTHY L . H ANFORD Dear Friends and Supporters of AFJMH: Now that the winter chill in much of the country is just a memory, it is my www.afjmh.org pleasure to invite you to enjoy this Spring newsletter. It provides a glimpse of some of the recent activities of the Jewish Museum Hohenems. Stephan Rollin Founder Museum Director Hanno Loewy introduces the newest exhibition, “A Streetcar Named Desire: A Journey through Yerushalayim/Jerusalem/Al-Quds.” This Timothy L. Hanford streetcar has little to do with the one Tennessee Williams immortalized – President instead it is a relatively new streetcar that connects western Jerusalem with the Claude Rollin, Esq. Jewish settlements in the city’s Palestinian eastern part. Through photographs Vice-President and exhibits, visitors will experience a journey through Jerusalem and the divergent cultures thrown together in the city. Uri Taenzer, Esq. Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Loewy also provides an update on the Museum’s successful exhibition, “Jukebox. Jewkbox! A Jewish Century on Shellac and Vinyl” that closed in T RUSTEES Hohenems in March. The exhibition is now in Munich and next year will be in Dr. Robert Amler Poland. We should all be proud that the Jewish Museum Hohenems is Nicole M. Angiel producing scholarly (but nonetheless entertaining) exhibitions that are of Ronald Bernell interest to international audiences. Doris Billes The Museum had its best attendance year ever in 2014. Much of what the Francesca Brunner-Kennedy Museum has accomplished is made possible by your generous contributions Nadia Follman passed on by the AFJMH. As you read about what the Museum is up to, I hope you will consider making additional (tax-deductible) gifts to the American Friends James Hirschfeld of the Jewish Museum Hohenems. This is especially important as the Museum Hon. Susan Shimer continues its preparations for the 2017 Descendants Reunion. Harry Weil, Jr. Monica Wollner Sincerely, Tim Hanford President, American Friends of the Jewish In Touch Editor: Museum Hohenems Nicole Angiel In Touch Designer: Save the Date: Amanda Kennedy Hohenems Descendants Reunion Please send your In Touch at the Jewish Museum Hohenems articles to [email protected] July 27-30, 2017 Page 2 Volume 16 NEWS FROM THE M USEUM D R . H ANNO L OEWY Working for the Jewish communities, more Museum Hohenems is than ever. a challenge every day. We are part of a lively The team knows that community that reach- only a developing mu- es around the globe. It seum, with creativity is a great gift to be able and innovation, can to communicate with confront this ever grow- descendants and ing and intensifying friends all over the mission. We have start- world, and to welcome ed a process to evalu- guests from all conti- ate our work and to dis- nents almost every cuss our future, within week. The American our team, with our Friends of the Jewish board of directors, and Museum Hohenems with our sponsors, both are at the heart of this public and private. New thrilling experience. forms of financial re- sources have to be Welcoming 17,800 visi- shaped that will make tors (more than ever) to us less dependent on the museum in 2014 public money, and ena- was another challenge ble us to call for public for us. We work hard to support with self- Jukebox. Jewkbox! A Jewish Century on Shellac and Vinyl © engage a diversity of confidence. Dietmar Walser people from all back- grounds in the dis- It’s you, the American bition in Hohenems Around 1900, a Jewish course of our exhibi- Friends, who help us to from October 10, 2014 immigrant, Emil Berlin- tions, to encourage make Hohenems an to March 8, 2015, was er, changed the world. young pupils and stu- inspiring place – for extremely successful. With the invention of dents from Austria, those who want to pre- The show can now be the gramophone and Switzerland and Ger- serve heritage and for seen in the Jewish Mu- the record, the first me- many to discover the those who want to build seum Munich, right in dium of a global culture richness of the Hohen- the future. the center of the city, was born. And the Jew- ems heritage and its from March 24 to ish century found its Diaspora, and to take Successful exhibition November 22, 2015. expression on shellac part in the evolving on Jewish pop-culture More venues are to and vinyl—from the in- multicultural civil socie- and the history of shel- come. In Fall 2016, the troduction of synagogal ty of the region. All of lac and vinyl exhibition will travel to music into the Jewish this demands our at- Poland, to the Museum middle-class home, to tention, and our travel- Jukebox. Jewkbox! A of the History of Polish the reinvention of Jew- ling shows now reach Jewish Century on Shel- Jews, the largest Jew- ish folk music, from the out to other places and lac and Vinyl, our exhi- ish Museum in Europe. (Continued on page 3) In Touch Page 3 NEWS FROM THE M USEUM (CONT) (Continued from page 2) mond Wolff – and per- European Summer Uni- cultural traditions, the career of Yiddish thea- sonal contributions by versity for Jewish reality of poverty and tre songs on Broadway, Timna Brauer, Harley Studies, Hohenems / hardships in everyday to the rebels of punk. Swedler, Barbara June 28 – July 3, 2015 life are forgotten all too The history of shellac Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Poor Jews! About Pov- often. The majority of and vinyl was also a Michael Asch, Cilly Ku- erty European Jews histori- history of Jewish inven- gelmann, Vladimir cally have lived on the tors, musicians, com- Vertlib, Lizzie Doron, Jewish life in Europe verge of misery. Subor- posers, music produc- Marian Fuks, Ari Rath was informed by the dinated to particular ers, and songwriters. and many others. experience of poverty laws and regulation Their music — the 45rpm record included. for centuries. Behind they were cut off by sound of the 20th cen- both the success sto- large parts of the econ- tury — was not always The catalog is available ries and the dramatic omy, limited in their so- “Jewish” music, but still for purchase from the catastrophes, and cial and cultural life, or a product of Jewish ex- museum for 29,90 € apart from the nostal- (particularly in Eastern perience. Jukebox. (plus shipping and han- gia of the Shtetl and Europe) confined in a Jewkbox! takes you on dling). the discourse about partial autonomy that a journey of discovery through unfamiliar The Grüninger Dossier worlds of popular cul- ture, accompanied by Alain Gsponer’s movie personal stories about about Paul Grüninger, records that have the Swiss police officer changed many a life. in St. Gall until 1939, The exhibition is ac- who helped more than companied by a catalog 3,000 Jews in 1938 to in an English edition escape into Switzer- too. land, is now available in the museum with Jukebox. Jewkbox! A English subtitles. The Jewish Century on Shel- producer of the film is c lac and Vinyl -films in Zurich, headed English edition | Edited by Peter Reichenbach, by Hanno Loewy | a descendant of both Bucher Verlag, Hohen- the Hohenems’ Reich- ems 2014 | 312 pages enbach and Brettauer | € 29,90 | 23,5 x 22 families, and a member cm | ISBN 978-3- of our academic board. 99018-297-0 | 45rpm record included You may order the DVD With essays by Caspar from the museum for Battegay, Alan Dein, 19,00 € (plus shipping (Continued on page 4) Helene Maimann, Ray- and handling). Museum visitors in the Jukebox. Jewkbox! exhibit © Walser Page 4 Volume 16 NEWS FROM THE M USEUM (CONT) (Continued from page 3) an integral part of Jew- in traditional or modern specialized program for was informed by re- ish tradition and its forms of self-aid and students of Jewish pression and poverty. challenge, from the bib- solidarity will be the studies, in the fields of lical scripture, to mo- subject, as much as history and culture, lit- Mass emigration from dernity and socialism. the reflection, of pov- erature and linguistics, east to west and out of erty in the rabbinical religious studies and the traditional commu- The Summer University tradition. anthropology. Applica- nities in little towns and 2015 will study the so- tions for the program villages to the urban cial reality, but also the The Summer University are accepted and re- centers was the result, reflection and repre- Hohenems, now in its viewed by the Universi- offering new experienc- sentation of poverty in seventh year, is a joint ty of Munich. The one- es, but also new forms literature and religious project of the universi- week interdisciplinary of misery that became tradition, in the arts ties of Munich, Basel, program provides the the subject of political and media, from vari- Vienna, Zurich and students the possibility debates, ideas and uto- ous perspectives and Bamberg, together with to deepen their pias. The discussion disciplines. Attempts to the Jewish Museum knowledge and to dis- about poverty has been confront Jewish poverty Hohenems. It offers a cuss ideas related to a certain topic of Jewish studies with an interna- tional group of schol- ars, and in communica- tion with fellow stu- dents from various Ger- man-speaking coun- tries. By joining the re- sources of the five par- ticipating universities, students are offered possibilities that go far beyond the scope of the single institutes and faculties.