Finding Space

As part of Saxony’s “Tacheles” theme year, the ZfBK is presenting an exhibition on Jewish architecture in Saxony.

The exhibition examines, on the one hand, the role synagogues played in their home cities before the Shoah and, on the other hand, sheds light on their current locations.

It features synagogues in Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Plauen, and Görlitz—including those that were destroyed, as well as those that were newly built or have been preserved.

The synagogues have always reflected the self-confidence of their respective Jewish communities—sometimes they were magnificent and prominently located in the city center, while at other times they were more modestly designed and situated on side streets. The architecture of these religious buildings mostly followed the trends of the time, whether historicism or, later, modernism. In some cases, it made “Orientalizing” references to the religion’s origins.

The exhibition presents the synagogues through models, some of which are on display for the first time. In addition, virtual models of the synagogues in Leipzig and Plauen—digitally reconstructed by the Technical University of Darmstadt—are featured.

An installation by Dresden-based artist Susan Donath offers an artistic perspective on the topic. At the ZfBK, she is exhibiting a wall piece from her series “The Images Return.” This series explores the erasure of Jewish buildings from the visual landscapes of German and Czech cities during the Nazi era: Dresden, Bautzen, Liberec, and Ústí nad Labem.

All the works in the exhibition are united by the attempt to keep a loss present and to integrate it into a living present and future. Finding a place for it remains a challenge.