SchUM-Sites - Recognition as UNESCO World Heritage

Mainz, Plenary Hall in the State Museum, July 27, 2021. At 3:47 p.m., the ShUM-Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz were recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Present in the hall: Roger Lewentz, Minister of the Interior of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, the city leaders of Speyer, Worms and Mainz (Mayor Seiler, Mayor Kessel, Mayor Ebling), representatives of the Jewish Community of Mainz, including Anna Kischner and Dr. Peter Waldmann and other representatives who had supported the application. In Berlin, Dr. Stefanie Hahn (Ministry of the Interior) and scientists involved in the application were present.

Media showed strong interest and intensively accompanied the inscription of the ShUM-Sites. being interviewed: Stefanie Seiler, Mayor of the City of Speyer.

From left to right: Avadislav Avadiev (Chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate Association of Jewish Communities), Roger Lewentz (Minister of the Interior of Rhineland-Palatinate), Stefanie Seiler (Mayor of the City of Speyer), Anna Kischner (Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Mainz), Adolf Kessel (Mayor of the City of Worms), Michael Ebling (Mayor of the State Capital Mainz).

The city of Speyer invited to a celebration in the Judenhof on July 28, 2021. Framed by jazzy klezmer and yiddish songs, speeches were given by Mayor Stefanie Seiler, State Secretary Nicole Steingaß from the Ministry of the Interior, former Mayor Werner Schineller and Avadislav Avadiev, Chairman of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Rhineland-Palatinate. Numerous representatives from various sectors of society were present, including the Mayor of Worms, Adolf Kessel, and his predecessor, Michael Kissel, the Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Mainz, Anna Kischner, former Prime Minister Dr. Bernhard Vogel and Dr. Stefanie Hahn, responsible for World Heritage at the Ministry of the Interior. Uwe Wöhlert and Frank Scheid, responsible for the Judenhof at the Verkehrsverein, also joined in the celebrations.

The city of Worms brought together representatives from society and politics for a celebration on July 29, 2021. On the square in front of the town hall, with the ShUM flags in view, OB Kessel welcomed the guests - among them Ruth Marx and Dr. Stefanie Hahn from the Ministry of the Interior, the mayors of the ShUM cities, Stefanie Seiler (Speyer) and Michael Ebling (Mainz), representatives of the Jewish Community Mainz and the State Association of Jewish Communities Rhineland-Palatinate, the University of Applied Sciences Worms, the Police Inspectorate Worms and indivisual from civil society, among others from the Antiquities Society. Anna Kischner, as chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Mainz, moved those present with emotional and wise words, as she elaborated on what this World Heritage Site means to the community. »How many times was this synagogue destroyed and rebuilt?« she asked, adding, »How much strength and trust in God our ancestors had!«

The state capital Mainz used the courtyard of the Electoral Palace to close the round of celebrations. Mayor Ebling was pleased to welcome the guests - among them Nicole Steingaß and Dr. Stefanie Hahn from the Ministry of the Interior, the mayors of the two other SchUM cities, Stefanie Seiler (Speyer) and Adolf Kessel (Worms), representatives of the Jewish Community of Mainz and the Chairperson of the State Association of Jewish Communities of Rhineland-Palatinate as well as engaged individuals from the municipal offices and from civil society. He thanked many of those present very warmly and empathetically for their work over the past at least five years. Anna Kischner as chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Mainz, reviewed the Jewish history of Mainz and always kept the future of Jewish life in mind.

Speyer, July 28, 2021, 9 pm: A rainbow stretches over the monuments.