Collection

Online catalogue

Collection

The Jewish Museum of Switzerland houses objects spanning 2000 years from Basel to Riga, from Aleppo to Eilat and from Spain to South America. The collection focuses on ceremonial objects made of silver, ritual textiles from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and documents on the cultural history of Jews in Switzerland. With a steadily growing collection, the museum also collects contemporary Judaica, everyday objects, art and provenance research.

In the field of museo­lo­gy, «pro­ven­an­ce» refers to the histo­ry an object, and «pro­ven­an­ce rese­arch» to the stu­dy of its histo­ry, par­ti­cu­lar­ly its owner­ship history.

When the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land ope­ned in 1966 as the first of its kind in Ger­man-spea­king Euro­pe after World War II, it initi­al­ly pos­s­es­sed only a small coll­ec­tion of Judai­ca. In the deca­des that fol­lo­wed, the museum’s coll­ec­tion grew through loans and dona­ti­ons made available to the muse­um by pri­va­te donors and insti­tu­ti­ons, as well as through acqui­si­ti­ons. Our muse­um pre­ser­ves, rese­ar­ches, ana­ly­ses, and exhi­bits the­se objects. They have been key to the Jewish Muse­um of Switzerland’s edu­ca­tio­nal work in con­vey­ing Juda­ism to its visi­tors, as they offer insight into Jewish reli­gious, cul­tu­ral, and social life.

Jewish life was des­troy­ed during the rule of the Natio­nal Socia­lists (1933–1945) in the Ger­man Reich and in the Nazi-occu­p­ied ter­ri­to­ries. Many ritu­al objects, books, and simi­lar items were loo­ted from com­mu­ni­ties and pri­va­te indi­vi­du­als. Many Jews had to sell their pro­per­ty under pres­su­re, as they were fle­e­ing per­se­cu­ti­on. Num­e­rous Judai­ca were brought into Switz­er­land, espe­ci­al­ly during the war years and in the deca­des the­re­af­ter, becau­se the coun­try had a sta­ble art mar­ket, but also in hope of brin­ging them to Switz­er­land into safety.

Today, Jewish life and insti­tu­ti­ons have re-emer­ged whe­re they had been des­troy­ed during the Nazi era. At the same time, Jewish muse­ums are incre­asing­ly shed­ding light on the pro­ven­an­ce of their objects.

Our muse­um is curr­ent­ly exami­ning its coll­ec­tion in search of objects suspec­ted of having chan­ged owner­ship under the pres­su­re of Nazi per­se­cu­ti­on, as well as the objects for which we have litt­le infor­ma­ti­on about their whe­re­a­bouts bet­ween 1933 and 1945. Pro­ven­an­ce rese­arch offers the muse­um the oppor­tu­ni­ty to unco­ver the his­to­ries of such objects and to seek fair and just solu­ti­ons. This work is sup­port­ed by the Guth-Drey­fus fami­ly and par­ti­cu­lar­ly by the pre­si­dent of the Asso­cia­ti­on for the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land, Nadia Guth Biasini.

Provenance Research

In museo­lo­gy, «pro­ven­an­ce» refers to the ori­gin of coll­ec­tion objects, while «pro­ven­an­ce rese­arch» refers to the stu­dy of their ori­gin stories.

Jewish life had been des­troy­ed under the rule of the Natio­nal-Socia­­lists (1933–1945) in the Ger­man Reich and in the ter­ri­to­ries occu­p­ied by the Ger­mans. Jews who fled had to sell objects of wor­ship, books, etc. under pres­su­re, or they were sto­len from them or their com­mu­ni­ties. Num­e­rous Judai­ca found their way to Switz­er­land during the war years and in the deca­des that fol­lo­wed becau­se the­re was a sta­ble art mar­ket here, but often also in the hope of brin­ging them to a safe place.

When the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land ope­ned in 1966 as the first of its kind in the Ger­­man-spea­king world after the war, it had only a small coll­ec­tion of Judai­ca. It grew in the fol­lo­wing deca­des through acqui­si­ti­ons or through loans and dona­ti­ons made available to the muse­um by pri­va­te indi­vi­du­als and insti­tu­ti­ons. The Judai­ca that our muse­um pre­ser­ves, stu­dies, com­mu­ni­ca­tes, and exhi­bits are essen­ti­al to the edu­ca­tio­nal work on Juda­ism that the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land has done and con­ti­nues to do. They offer insights into Jewish reli­gious, cul­tu­ral, and social life. In the mean­ti­me, Jewish life has been reestab­lished and insti­tu­tio­na­li­zed in the are­as whe­re it had been des­troy­ed during the Nazi era. 

In the cour­se of the leng­thy pro­cess of coping with the cri­mes of the Nazis, the ori­gin of the coll­ec­tion objects in the Jewish muse­ums final­ly came into focus. The­r­e­fo­re, the coll­ec­tion of the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land is curr­ent­ly being exami­ned for objects about which hard­ly any infor­ma­ti­on exists bet­ween 1933 and 1945, or which are suspec­ted to have chan­ged hands under the pres­su­re of Nazi per­se­cu­ti­on. Pro­ven­an­ce rese­arch can reve­al the histo­ry of such objects. Once their ori­g­ins are known, the muse­um can seek fair and just solu­ti­ons, which is sup­port­ed by the Guth-Drey­­­fus fami­ly and in par­ti­cu­lar by the pre­si­dent of the Asso­cia­ti­on for the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land, Nadia Guth Biasini. 

Expert discussions

The team at the Jewish Muse­um regu­lar­ly inter­views cul­tu­ral figu­res about their rese­arch, art, and museology:

Friederike Szlosze und Christina Meri

Friederike Szlosze on conserving a stained-glass window from Biel

In 2022, the Jewish Muse­um recei­ved a spe­cial gift from the Biel Syn­ago­gue: a stained-glass rosette win­dow that once hung abo­ve the Torah shri­ne (inven­to­ry num­ber JMS 2083). Frie­de­ri­ke Szlo­sze, our glass con­ser­va­tor, is curr­ent­ly clea­ning the object, repai­ring the cracks in the glass, res­to­ring the miss­ing parts and pre­pa­ring it for the museum’s new exhi­bi­ti­on. Elwira Spy­chals­ka, muse­um staff mem­ber, visi­ted Frie­de­ri­ke Szlo­sze in her stu­dio and spo­ke to her about cracks, flaws and pat­terns that imi­ta­te Hebrew script.

Here you can read the conversation.

Jüdisches Schul- und Gemeindehaus in Gailingen, 1936

Uri Kaufmann on the legacy of a vanished Judaism

Dr. Uri R. Kauf­mann, an expert on Alsa­ti­an and sou­thern Ger­ma­ny Juda­ism is curr­ent­ly a Sigi Feigel lec­tu­rer for Jewish Stu­dies at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich. He spo­ke to his­to­ri­an Dr. Bar­ba­ra Häne about catt­le tra­ding, mili­ta­ry ser­vice and the aban­do­ned buil­dings of the once exten­si­ve net­work of Jewish rural communities.

Here you can read the conversation.

Innenansicht des Betsaals in Solothurn kurz vor dessen Auslösung 1981

Robert Dreyfus on the former prayer room in Solothurn

For almost a hundred years, a small pray­er room at Obe­rer Win­kel 3 was the mee­ting place of the Jewish com­mu­ni­ty of Solo­thurn. Estab­lished in 1893, it was dis­sol­ved around 1981 when the com­mu­ni­ty had shrunk to a handful of fami­lies and the room was in need of cos­t­ly reno­va­tions. The Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land took over a Torah scroll and the fur­nis­hings; the Jewish Com­mu­ni­ty of Bern took two Torah scrolls. His­to­ri­an Bar­ba­ra Häne inter­view­ed Robert Drey­fus, Pre­si­dent of the Jewish Com­mu­ni­ty of Solo­thurn sin­ce 1988 and a des­cen­dant of a fami­ly that has belon­ged to the com­mu­ni­ty for gene­ra­ti­ons, about the room and the objects.

Here you can read the conversation.

Highlights

Jewish Medieval Gravestones

These gravestones and gravestone fragments come from the medieval Jewish cemetery in Basel, which was established at Petersplatz, in the 13th century at the latest. In 1349, the members of the first community were massacred and the cemetery abandoned. Hundreds of intact grave-stones were stolen to cover the sup-porting wall of the moat along the city wall, while gravestone frag-ments were left behind at the cemetery grounds. From 1937 to 1939, during the construction of the university building on the cemetery site, 31 gravestone fragments were excavated. Other gravestones survived on private properties.

Learn here more about these gravestones.

Pocket Watch
from La Chaud-de-Fonds

This silver and brass pocket watch was made by Jules Levy in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1901, as can be deduced from the inscription: «Jules Levy. Chaux de Fonds. Tischri 5662. Mon cher oncle.» Levy's «dear uncle» was Aron Rhein.

Tishri is the first month of the Jewish calen­dar year, fal­ling bet­ween Sep­tem­ber and Octo­ber. The hour nume­rals are repre­sen­ted by Hebrew cha­rac­ters. The Jewish com­mu­ni­ty of La Chaux-de-Fonds was foun­ded in 1833 and quick­ly grew, coun­ting cir­ca 900 mem­bers in 1900, when the local watch manu­fac­tu­ring indus­try was at its peak.

read more

Lengnau Mappot

One of the most extensive collections of wimpels was found in the 1960s in the Surbtal in the Swiss canton of Aargau. The 218 textiles, which had been discovered in the women's gallery of the synagogue in Lengnau, span three centuries.

The oldest one dates back to 1655. In 1967 the wim­pels were exami­ned by Dr. Flo­rence Gug­gen­heim-Grün­berg. They are now part of the coll­ec­tion of the Jewish Muse­um of Switzerland.

read more

Torah Mantle
from Endingen

This Torah mantle was found in the storage room of the synagogue in Endingen (Aargau) in 1967, and since it was no longer in use, was donated to the museum.

The mate­ri­al was a French eigh­te­enth cen­tu­ry silk ori­gi­nal­ly used as a ladies’ dress, per­haps even a wed­ding gown. It was repur­po­sed as a Torah man­t­le, a con­tro­ver­si­al yet fair­ly com­mon prac­ti­ce befo­re the twen­tieth century.

read more

Collotype
of the First Zionist Congress

The collotype process of the mid-nineteenth century made it relatively easy to produce hundreds of photographs at a time. This collotype shows the 162 participants of the First Zionist Congress, which took place in Basel in 1897.

While most par­ti­ci­pan­ts were men, some women took part as well. Their pho­tos are on the bot­tom row. Women were allo­wed to par­ti­ci­pa­te, but not to vote.

read more

J-stamped
Passport

On 30 December 1938, Agatha Süss's German passport was stamped with a J to mark her as Jewish.

Becau­se her daugh­ter mar­ried a Swiss man, the 63-year-old suc­cessful­ly pro­cu­red a visa for Switz­er­land and was able to take up resi­dence with her son-in-law in Basel, thus esca­ping near-cer­tain depor­ta­ti­on to a con­cen­tra­ti­on camp.

read more