Newsletter 2010

Kippenheim Synagogue Patrons Society, a non-profit organization

NEW ADDRESS: P.O. Box 0190, D-77968 Kippenheim, T +49 (0)7822-896254, F +49 (0)7822-30275

E-mail: buero@ehemalige-synagoge-kippenheim.de

http://www.ehemalige-synagoge-kippenheim.de

Bank Accounts:

Sparkasse Offenburg/Ortenau, IBAN: DE09 6645 0050 0076 1093 99, SWIFT-BIC: SOLADES1OFG

Volksbank Lahr e.G, IBAN: DE21 6829 0000 0048 5110 07, SWIFT-BIC: GENODE61LAH

Dear Members and Patrons Society Friends,

After a long process of planning, designing, developing and modifying we’ve finally done it! The permanent documentation entitled The History and Culture of the Ortenau Jews will be finished and installed just in time for the spring opening of the Old Synagogue. The exhibits are based solely on documents and photographs from the Ortenau area that were furnished by Holocaust survivors and/or their descendents as well as from various institutions and private individuals. We would have liked to include more objects, but the climate conditions in the Old Synagoge allow the display of stone and metal objects only. The Society executive is well aware that the most important and expressive object is the building itself and always kept this in mind while carefully designing the permanent installations to blend in with the interior. This also applies to the 9-meter long timeline that has been installed just beneath the windows on the northern wall of the ground floor. It relates the building’s history from construction to the present day. In addition to the exhibits in the ladies’ gallery and the timeline we have compiled Das Buch der Gemeinden (Book of Communities) which documents the former Jewish communities in the Ortenau and shows traces that are still to be found today. This book will be translated into English and French, as will the documentation and timeline texts.

The official opening will take place at 7 p.m. on March 14^th, 2010, in the presence of the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Culture, Helmut Rau. You are cordially invited to join us, if not personally then in spirit.

New Memorial Site Brochure for the Upper Rhein Region

In 2008 we formed a regional network together with the memorials in Emmendingen (Jewish Museum), Breisach (Blaues Haus – Blue House), Sulzburg (Old Synagogue) and Offenburg (Salmen Memorial). One of the first results of this positive and fruitful collaboration is a brochure with information about each memorial site in German, French and English along with maps, opening hours and contacts. We recently mailed you a copy of this brochure that is now available in the Old Synagogue as well as at tourist offices, schools and churches in the region.

The Ortenau Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism is now available online

January 27^th, 2010: To mark the 65^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz the Patrons Society has posted the Ortenau Memorial Book in the Internet athttp://www.ehemalige-synagoge-kippenheim.d 

Since its initiation in 2004, the biographies of 44 victims have been added to the book, many accompanied by photographs, poems, drawings or other life expressions of/by the victims. These were written by Patron Society members, historians, relatives or descendents of the victims, or by interested citizens seeking a form of remembrance. Numerous texts come from the Memorial Book project in Offenburg and were written solely by school children and teenagers. Within the coming year all biographies will be translated into English and (hopefully) French, thus making them available to a much wider audience.

History Education Project in Friesenheim

A history study group of boys and girls from the Friesenheim graduating classes explored the traces and the history of the former Jewish community in Friesenheim. Beginning in February 2009, the group met regularly every Thursday after school to study historic documents under the supervision of Ekkehard Klem from the History Society of Central Baden. The result of this research is an impressive, 50-page book entitled Geschichte der Juden in Friesenheim – Erinnerungsplätze und Spuren (History of the Jews in Friesenheim – Remembrance Sites and Traces). This book (in German only) may be purchased for 7 euros through the Patrons Society. 

Warmest regards on behalf of the Society Executive from Editorial Team Jürgen Stude and (for the last time) Renate Kreplin.

English translation: Edith DuBose