Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Axes
The building's visual allegory continues on the inside. Exhibits are accessed through an ad-
joining baroque structure that once housed the Prussian supreme court. A steep staircase
descends to the museum basement where three intersecting walkways - called 'axes' - rep-
resent the fates of Jews during the Nazi years. The
Axis of Emigration
leads to a disorient-
ing 'garden' of 49 tilted concrete columns; oleaster, a symbol of hope, sprouts from each.
The
Axis of the Holocaust
ends in the tomblike 'void' that stands for the loss of Jewish life,
culture and humanity in Europe. Only the
Axis of Continuity
, which represents the present
and the future, leads to the actual exhibits, but it too is a cumbersome journey up a sloping
walkway and several steep flights of stairs.
The Exhibit
The permanent exhibit portrays facets and milestones of German-Jewish life and culture
through art, daily objects, photographs and letters, media stations and interactive displays.
An entire section is dedicated to the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86), who paved
the way for the Emancipation Edict of 1812 that made Jews full citizens with equal rights
and duties. Elsewhere you can learn about holiday traditions, what it means to live kosher,
or how people such as composer Arnold Schönberg, writer Walter Benjamin or artist Max
Liebermann influenced global culture from their Berlin base. The subject of anti-Semitism
pops up throughout, culminating in the 'National Socialism' section. The final section deals
with the revival of Jewish life in Germany and features an ingenious '
Art Vending
Machine
' stocked with artworks by seven Jewish artists which reflect their interpretation of
life in contemporary Berlin.
Art Installations
The Jewish Museum is peppered with art installations, of which Menashe Kadishman's
Sha-
lechet - Fallen Leaves
is among the most poignant. More than 10,000 open-mouthed faces
cut from rusty iron plates lie arbitrarily scattered on the floor in an ocean of silent screams.
The haunting effect is exacerbated by the space itself, another cold and claustrophobic
'void'. Also note Dresden-born artist Via Lewandowsky's
Gallery of the Missing
, which
consists of black glass sculptures erected near three of these voids. Each contains acoustic
descriptions of missing or destroyed objects relating to German-Jewish culture, such as the
Encyclopaedia Judaica,
the completion of which came to a sudden halt in 1934.
Academy of the Jewish Museum
