Jewish History at the Augsburg Sudeten-German Day Meeting

שולחן מידע של חברה ההיסטורית היהודית של אוגסבורג עם ספרים על היסטוריה המקומית ובגד יהודי היסטורי

בועידת ה -66 של הסודטים-גרמנים במרכז התערוכה אוגסבורג

At the 66^th annual meeting of the organized Sudeten-German Landsmannschaft repeatedly held in Augsburg this time some aspects were different from previous gatherings. While on the one hand some more or less right-wing organizations like the “Witikobund” were excluded (their leaders of course were present in other functions), this time there were a number of Jewish themes presentations – at least from our part the one has nothing to do with the other (last year as visitor we had quite good talks with members of the Witiko). For instance there was a multi-part exhibition on former Jewish communities along the Czech-German border by Dr. Karl W. Schubsky as well as an  exhibition  (“Sonderausstellung”) of the Vienna based Böhmerwald Museum on “Jüdische Spuren in Böhmischen Grenzland” (Jewish  traces in the Bohemian border region/ www.boehmerwald.at).

יהודה שנף ופטר ברטון על 750 שנים של היסטוריה משפחתית היהודית בוהמיה ושוואביה

Also our JHVA which for the first time attended the conference contributed to that and straightaway in two ways. On the one hand we had an information desk with a number of original Jewish garments (Baroque, Rokoko, Biedermeier, (worn by court Jews like Simon Ulmo, Simon Wolf Wertheimer and Isidor Obermayer) made after historical depictions by master taylor Margit Hummel  from Friedberg (n. Augsburg) and books by Yehuda Shenef  on medieval Jewish history in Augsburg and former Austrian Swabian Forelands (Vorderösterreich). On the other by a lecture on “750 years of Jewish family history in Bohemia and Swabia from 1200 to 1950“. Both of our contributions attracted many, lot of interest and so we had many contacts and  talks with hundreds of people. Among them also were scientist, high ranking local as well as foreign politicians, a bishop, many journalists and a number of other dignitaries as well as quite ordinary people who in many cases reported from their own experiences of the past, about their contacts to Jews, about the Nazi rule(s), about war times & war crimes and about their own expulsions from their homeland. Beside one or two single persons who reacted seemingly hostile to our presence there we had very good experiences, many new contacts, some new friends, wonderful encounters as well as a number of invitations for further lectures.

Böhmerwaldmuseum Wien: “Jüdische Spuren im böhmischen Grenzland“

Dr. Karl W. Schubsky and Yehuda Shenef at the JHVA desk

JHVA speaker Margit Hummel with Linus Förster (SPD), Social Democrat member of Bavarian Parliament

Hans Peter Grab (DIG Augsburg), Y. Shenef (JHVA), Prof. Daniel Korte (member of Czech Parliament), Alexander Baron (board of Jewish Community Augsburg)

Exhibition on Jews of Saaz (Zatec) by Otokar Löbl of Frankfurt

Yehuda Shenef and Otokar Löbl

Gideon Jokel and his wife Judith Jokel from Tel Aviv

Bei unserem ersten Auftritt am (bereits 66.) Sudetentag der auch dieses Jahr wieder im Augsburger Messezentrum stattfand waren als JHVA nicht die einzigen, die einen jüdischen Akzent setzen sollten. Dafür sorgten auch Dr. Schubsky, Otokar Löbl aus Frankfurt oder die Vertreter des Böhmerwaldmuseums aus Wien. Dafür trat der JHVA gleich zweimal in Erscheinung, einmal beim Vortrag zu “750 Jahre jüdischer Familiengeschichte in Böhmen und Schwaben (1200-1950)”, wo wir einen kurzen Überblick geben konnten über den über Generationen anhaltenden Austausch und den dadurch entstehend familiäre Geflecht zwischen schwäbischen (vorderösterreichischen) und böhmischen (Prager) Juden. An unserem Stand hingegen konnte man hochklassige jüdische Trachten bestaunen, wie sie Hoffaktoren wie Ulmo, Wertheimer oder Obermayer in Zeiten des Barock, Rokoko und Biedermeier in Schwaben und Böhmen trugen, sich aber auch über die Arbeit des Jüdisch Historischen Vereins informieren. Dabei kam es zu sehr vielen Begegnungen und Gesprächen, von denen wir hier nur einen kurzen Auszug geben können.

Veranstaltungsmotto: “Menschenrechte ohne Grenzen“

ראש ממשלת בוואריה הורסט סיהופר

Demonstrant gegen Seehofer vor dem Messezentrum

funny misnomer at seat reservation

Bilder der Veranstaltungen zum Jüdischen Friedhof Kriegshaber