A detailed plan to renovate 18 monuments and other Jewish sites in Hamburg has been prepared by Wolfgang Tarnowski, a member of the Hamburg Senate in charge of cultural and education affairs in this major north German city.
The one million Mark project is due to be ratified by Hamburg’s parliament before the summer break The city’s government intends to get the money needed through a fund-raising campaign. This is being done not for financial reasons, but rather as an act of solidarity and an example.
The plan was initiated by the Hamburg-based Scientific Institution for the History of German Judaism, which has picked the 18 sites.
They include the former Central Hamburg Synagogue, where a bronze model will be built as a reminder of what was the second largest Jewish community in pre-war Germany; the Reform Synagogue in a northern suburb, which is used today by a local radio station, and will get a decorative memorial sign with original Hebrew characters; several houses of famous Hamburg Jews and former Jewish school which will be placed under protection accorded to historical monuments; and the interesting tombstone on Gabriel Riesser’s grave (1806-1963), considered as one of the very first human rights activists in Germany.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
