The collection of the Jewish Museum Augsburg Swabia comprises religious and ritual objects, everyday items, and papers and photographs documenting Jewish history and present-day Jewish life in Augsburg and Bavarian Swabia.
Individual Stories
One focal point of our collection is social-historical objects bequeathed or donated to us by Jewish families from Augsburg or elsewhere in Bavarian Swabian. Many Nachlass papers and other documents came to us, whether as donations or permanent loan items, as a result of the Lifelines series, an eyewitness project carried out by the museum annually from 2002 to 2019. These objects tell individual stories from the history of the Jewish community of Augsburg, personal accounts of the rise of National Socialism and forced emigration to all parts of the world.
Ritual objects
The heart of our collection is the Torah ornaments of the destroyed Jewish communities of Swabia, including outstanding pieces by Augsburg silversmiths of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Our collection is supplemented by a number of items on permanent loan from the Bavarian National Museum in Munich. This category consists mostly of such ritual objects as Torah wimples and other textiles but also includes wedding rings and Torah ornaments. Represented here are both ritual objects associated with individual life-cycle rituals and those used in weekly communal prayer services.
Still growing
Objects on loan from the Jewish Community of Swabia-Augsburg (IKG Augsburg) form another highlight of the collection. These items document the historical transformations of the IKG from the beginning of the construction of the synagogue in 1913/1914 to the present day.
The continued expansion of our collections depends on the generosity of people like you. Please contact us if you wish to donate.