Jüdisches Museum Rotenburg an der Fulda

About the museum

Jews lived in Rotenburg an der Fulda, with interruptions, from around 1300; from the 17th to the 19th century the town had one of the largest Jewish small-town communities in Hesse. At the house at Brauhausstraße 2, which once belonged to the Jewish community, the community's ritual baths were uncovered at the initiative of the state office for historic preservation: an immersion pool fed by groundwater about four meters deep, a pool for piped-in water with a blue-and-white tiled basin from 1925, a shaft for the ritual cleansing of dishes, and the base of a stove used to heat water.

Following restoration led by the town, the house was inaugurated as the Jewish Museum on September 10, 2006, in the presence of many descendants of former Jewish families. It was set up by the Förderkreis Ehemaliges Jüdisches Ritualbad (friends' association of the former Jewish ritual bath), which still runs it today. In 2008 the mikveh received the emblem for cultural property under special protection according to the Hague Convention.

The permanent exhibition "Was übrig blieb" (What Remained) on the upper floor uses a small number of surviving original objects to present six centuries of Jewish life in Rotenburg and the surrounding area, including the Torah scroll from the synagogue that was ransacked in 1938. A memorial plaque lists 365 Holocaust victims from the region, and a portrait gallery shows more than 200 former Jewish residents.

Highlights

• Excavated groundwater immersion bath about four meters deep
• Blue-and-white tiled bathing basin from 1925
• Torah scroll from the Rotenburg synagogue desecrated in 1938
• Portrait gallery with more than 200 photos of former Jewish residents
• Memorial plaque bearing the names of 365 Holocaust victims from the region

Founded

2006

Operated by

Förderkreis Ehemaliges Jüdisches Ritualbad e. V. mit der Stadt Rotenburg an der Fulda

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Free admission; donations welcome.

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