Museum
Synagogue
Kaliningrad

The history and culture of Jewish Königsberg are the focus of the first permanent exhibition in the Museum in the Kaliningrad Synagogue. Here, European Jewish history is presented through the prism of the region. In the first section, “Coming”, seven biographies describe diverse forms of Jewish immigration of Lithuanian, Polish and Russian Jews to Königsberg. The chapter “Staying” shows Königsberg from a Jewish perspective with the specific characteristics of the port and university city as well as its European networking.

The section “Expulsion” concentrates on memories of pupils who attended the Jewish school in the Königsberg synagogue between 1936-1942 and were prepared for a proud Jewish future here, despite the adverse circumstances, thanks to their dedicated teachers. The light wheel, with the help of which the visitor can choose the narrations of the persons and the languages (Russian, English, German. Hebrew), symbolizes the globe across which the Jewish families of Königsberg were scattered.

The three angular islands in the room, which contain the section of “extermination,” intentionally disrupt the atmosphere of the room. With the content transported by graphic novels, they illustrate the rupture of civilization that occurred here through deportation, forced labor and the Holocaust. The focus is on crimes that took place in the region. A white model depicts the first deportation, while on another island visitors learn that barracks for Jewish forced laborers were located on the site of the destroyed synagogue. On the third island the history of the death march to Palmnicken is presented. For the first time, gaps are being filled in the Kaliningrad Museum landscape that relate to the history of Jews in the city and region and to a European anchoring of Königsberg/Kaliningrad. Other parts of the exhibition on the post-war period and the history of Kaliningrad Jews are planned.