Events in Retrospect

The exhibition of the ShUM-Cities e.V. on Wine and Judaism was opened on 18 January at the Branch of Volksbank Alzey-Wotrms in Nierstein. Mr. Steffan (Board of Directors of the Bank) and the chairman of the historical association Nierstein, Mr. Hexemer, emphasized the importance of a confrontation with Judaism and the Shoah. Susanne Urban talked about the connection between wine and Jewish holidays, quotes from the Hebrew Bible, and Rashi's commentaries, which are the wine of the Torah, as a 17th-century rabbi emphasized.

Pupils repeatedly ask themselves when encountering the subject of ShUM: What is that, this SchUM? Who was the Maharam? Why does the synagogue in Worms have an indentation? What do you do in a mikveh? What do gravestones tell about a person? Why was the synagogue in Worms, burned down during the Nazi era in 1938, rebuilt between 1957 and 1961? What's up with the women's synagogues?
A project with the Katharinen-High School Ingolstadt (10th grade), prepared since 2017, accompanied by the teachers Dr. Matthias Schickel and Alexander Schöner, led a 25-member group of 15- to 16-year-olds from Ingolstadt in early July 2018 to Worms and Speyer. Walks through Worms, an excursion to Speyer and an intensive look at the details of buildings and documents prepared the pupils for their own project work.
On the basis of subjects that were illustrated with more than 50 objects, the participants explored these artifacts upon return during a project week. The results of the object research will serve as virtual index cards on the Internet with accompanying educational handouts from 2020 to inform people in German-language educational institutions about SchUM. You can prepare yourself for a visit to SchUM, deal with school in class or adult education and explore the unique aspects of this Jewish life in ShUM on the Rhine in a playful and exploratory way.

At the suggestion of Prof. Eva Frojmovic participation in the conference and a lecture about the synagogue Worms as an icon of the Jewish Middle Ages was possible. The focus was not set on the architecture, but the era between 1933 and 1938 and then the rebuilding process after 1947 were illuminated.
The conference which took place from 2 to 5 July 2018, was packed with a dense program; more than 2,500 participants were active and around 900 panels were offered, as well as excursions, workshops, lecture evenings etc.
The Jewish Middle Ages found expression in many other panels, be it through lectures on the Jewish Middle Ages in Erfurt or Mikvaot.

The participation of Susanne Urban and Susnane Flörke from ShUM-Cities Ass. in two conferences in Krakow was extremely inspiring, a huge networking opportunity and a chance to present projects and topics related to the application of the ShUM-Sites for being listed as a World Heritage Site.
In July 2018, the city was the venue for the congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies.
Susanne Urban presented in one of the numerous panels regarding concepts of Remembrance and Museology her lecture.
In September 2018 Krakow was the central meeting point for the conference »Urban Jewish Heritage - Presence and Absence«. Susanne Urban presented potential topics for exhibitions and educational approaches of ShUM. Susanne Flörke lectured about the history of the cemetery »Judensand« in Mainz and how this space was managed and presented throughout th e past 100 years and what the future plans are.
Last but not least: the old synagogue in Krakow, built after the role model of the medieval synagogue in Worms, was worth more than one visit.

The workshop brought together representatives from tourism, the three cities Speyer, Worms and Mainz, the Schum-Städte e.V. and the Raschi-Haus with initiators and designers of UNESCO World Heritage Visitor Centers as well as Jewish museums in Germany. Dr. Marie-Luise Frey reported on the UNESCO Visitor Center of the Messel Pit. Subsequently, Susanne Hauer presented the UNESCO visitor center in Regensburg. Then Volker Böhm reported on the projects of the agency hneun, whose staff, among other projects, design the UNESCO Visitor Center in Bamberg. An inspection of the area around the Rashi house and the synagogue led to a discussion of the future potential location of such a visitor center. Afterwards, three working groups were discussed. The impulses from the Jewish museums will also be incorporated into the plans for the SchUM special exhibition in the Raschi Haus 2020 and feedback is expected. The workshop was also supported by a donation from the »Gut. Für die Rregion« the Sparkasse Worms-Alzey-Ried allows.

The Paris conference was a forum for both political discussions and the exchange of knowledge between heritage and cultural professionals and religious heritage in Europe. The event provided a unique opportunity for participants to discuss issues surrounding Europe's religious heritage. It was about the cultural, social, economic and spiritual significance of the religious heritage. Measures to promote religious tourism were discussed as well as the appropriate and future use of listed buildings. The Jewish topic was represented by ShUM-Cities Ass. and our close partners, the Foundation for Jewish Heritage, London, notably Michael Mail, and Ruth Ellen Gruber, director of the Jewish Heritage Online project.
https://www.frh-europe.org/

Since October 1, 2018, SchUM-Cities Ass. has repeatedly announced: Golem is returning! Mayor Michael Kissel, chairman of SchUM-Cities Ass. had presented the Golem Art Poster created by Worms artist Klaus Krier. On November 29, 2018, the time had come, and those present at the Worms conference center learned what connection Golem has to Worms. Susanne Urban said that the idea of ​​a protective being, formed out of a lump of clay and brought to life by means of letters and number combinations, originally came from Worms. The scholar Eleazar ben Jehuda Kalonymos had described in his commentary on the ancient »book of creation« for the first time the creation of a golem.
Prof. Dr. Frank Stern from the University of Vienna then reported knowledgeably and with wonderfully fine humor about the »legend of the Jewish artificial super-being«. Stern took the listeners on a journey through time and space, started with a superwoman, meandered through Jewish literature, traveled to Superman in the USA, and asked if a golem could be female. He ended with the introduction to the film »Ex Machina«, which was subsequently screened. After all, modern robots, androids and cyborgs are nothing but golems. The project was also supported by a donation from the foundation »Gut. For the region« from the Sparkasse Worms-Alzey-Ried.