Jüdisches Museum Buttenhausen

About the museum

Buttenhausen on the Swabian Alb was one of the few Jewish rural communities in southern Württemberg. Its basis was a letter of protection issued in 1787 by the local lord Philipp Friedrich von Liebenstein, which allowed 25 Jewish families to settle. For a century and a half, Jews and Christians lived closely side by side in the village, until the community was wiped out during the Nazi era.

The museum is located in a brick building that the art dealer Lehmann Bernheimer, who had become wealthy in Munich, endowed in memory of his parents. The Realschule, inaugurated in 1904, was open to Jewish and Christian children, but had to close as early as the inflation period around 1922/23 because the endowment capital had been used up. Afterwards the building served for a long time as a kindergarten, later as a town hall, and was renovated in 1992 and turned into a village community centre.

Since 1994 the town of Münsingen has commemorated the Jewish history of the village here. The initially small exhibition in the former teacher’s flat was completely redesigned, considerably expanded and reopened in July 2013 in the presence of numerous descendants of former Jewish residents. Five rooms on the upper floor deal with settlement, emancipation, religious life, neighbourly relations, trade and school, persecution and the later process of coming to terms with the past.

Highlights

• Five exhibition rooms on the history of the Jewish community of Buttenhausen
• Letter of protection for Jews of 1787 as the starting point of Jewish settlement
• Media stations and an audio guide with voiced eyewitness and press reports
• Listed brick building of the Bernheimer’sche Realschule, opened in 1904
• Jewish cemetery of Buttenhausen nearby

Permanent exhibition

• Juden in Buttenhausen – Five rooms on the upper floor trace the life of the Jewish rural community from its settlement in 1787 to its destruction, complemented by remembrance work up to the present day.

Founded

1994

Operated by

Stadt Münsingen

Admission & discounts

Admission €2 per person; tours €30 plus admission.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit