Slovenia: Jewish Soldiers of the Austria-Hungarian Army On The Isonzo Front

Stanjel, Slovenia. Jewish graves at Austrian military cemetery. Photos: Ruth Ellen Gruber (2003)

Slovenia Exhibition: Forgive Us, Forgive Us O You Dead. Jewish Soldiers of the Austria-Hungarian Army On The Isonzo Front
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The international exhibition Forgive Us, Forgive Us O You Dead. Jewish Soldiers of the Austria-Hungarian Army On The Isonzo Front will open tomorrow, Thursday, 17^th November 2011 in the Maribor Synagogue, Slovenia. The exhibition theme is part of the ongoing dissertation research by Renato Podbersič, and continues preliminary on-site research begun by my sister Ruth Ellen Gruber, which was published as part of our survey of Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues and Monuments in Slovenia of about a decade ago.

The authors of the exhibition are dr. Petra Svoljšak, Head of the Milko Kos Historical Institute of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and mag. Renato Podbersič, senior researcher at the SCNR (Slovenian Centre for National Reconciliation).

Maribor, Slovenia. Panel form the exhibition. Photo courtesy of Janez Premk.

Maribor Curator Janez Premk helped with advice and additional material, as did our good friend Ivan Čerešnješ, who provided historical photos of his grandfather and other Jewish soldiers from Bosnia, fighting in the Isonzo front.

Doctor Premk believes the exhibition, which consists of 16 tri-lingual (Slovenian, English, Hebrew) panels, accompanied by rich graphic material and historical documents, is one of the major contributions in contemporary research of the Jewish past in Slovenia and adjacent territories. The exhibit will travel in Slovenia and plans are being made to then send it abroad.

Slovenia: Maribor Synagogue Becomes Independent Jewish Culture and Research Institute

Maribor, Slovenia. Medieval synagogue restored as museum and cultural center.
Photo courtesy of Kulturni Center Sinagoga Maribor.

I last wrote at length about the medieval synagogue of Maribor, Slovenia in September 2009. Ruth Ellen Gruber now reports the latest from Maribor on her blog Jewish Heritage Travel:

Maribor Synagogue Becomes Independent Jewish Culture and Research Institute; Calls for Participants in Arts Competition:

The medieval synagogue in Maribor, Slovenia, which was restored 10 years ago to become a culture center, was transformed last month into "an independent public institution serving as a museum and a cultural and research center dedicated to preserving the heritage of what was once a thriving Jewish community in Slovenia."

To celebrate both the 10th anniversary of the restoration and the new independent status of the institution, the Maribor Synagogue - the Center of Jewish Cultural Heritage has issued a call for artists to take part in an international competition called "Images of the Maribor Synagogue".

The synagogue is one of Slovenia's most important Jewish heritage sites and one of the oldest known synagogues in Europe.

Read more here.

Slovenia: More on Exhibition in Maribor

Slovenia: More on Exhibition in Maribor

(ISJM) I've received more information about the exhibition set to open in Maribor, Slovenia on September 6th. Curator Janez Premk informs ISJM that the exhibition consists of 13 information panels (see the first panel, above)that collate much of the documentary information - including archival sources, building measurements, etc.- carried out by Dr. Premk, Ivan Ceresnjes and a research team from the Center for Jewish Art at Hebrew University, beginning in 2000. The work builds on the Commission report that I co-authored with Ruth Ellen Gruber in 1996 and that I mentioned in my previous post, but it includes much more priomary source material and has involved much closer scrutiny of existing sites, including measured drawings. This material now is part of the Jewish Archive of Slovenia.

It is expected that the exhibition will be on view at Maribor for about two months, and then it will probably move to Lendava. The exhibition may be available for further travel - if interested please contact Dr. Premk directly. Eventually, the exhibition may return to Maribor for a more permanent installation. - SDG

Slovenia: New Exhibition on Jewish Heritage in Slovenia to Open in Maribor Synagogue

Maribor, Slovenia. Medieval synagogue restored as museum and cultural center.
Photos courtesy of Kulturni Center Sinagoga Maribor.

Slovenia: New Exhibition on Jewish Heritage in Slovenia to Open in Maribor Synagogue
by Samuel D. Gruber

On September 6, 2009, the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture a new exhibition on the Jewish heritage of Slovenia will open in the restored medieval synagogue of Maribor. According to researcher Janez Premek a major part of the exhibition is based on research carried out by Ruth Ellen Gruber and myself in the 1990s and first published in 1996 (updated 2005) in a report by the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. The exhibition will open at 11 in the morning on the 6th, and Premk will give a tour of the exhibition at noon as part of the opening ceremonies.

At that time the first release of the US Commission sponsored survey (1996) the government of Slovenia pledged to produce a book or booklet using this material to present and promote the Jewish history and sites of Slovenia – something that never came to pass. Meanwhile, the former medieval synagogue in Maribor has been restored and developed as a center of Jewish culture. It is appropriate that this exhibition be held in this space, and I hope that something lasting – in print or on line – comes of Janez’s efforts. He tells me that in recent years some additional site have been identified, and (partly through his efforts) more archival materials relating to the Jewish history of the region have been found. Dr. Premk tells me that there is a project in the planning stage to create an Institute for Jewish Studies in Maribor, perhaps as early as 2010. When I learn more about this, I will report more in detail.

The Maribor synagogue is one a handful former medieval synagogues that have been rediscovered and redeveloped in the past decade. This building, probably originally a double-nave synagogue similar in plan to those in Worms, Prague and Vienna, also served for many centuries a church after the expulsion of the Jews from Maribor in 1493.

Top: Piran, Slovenia. Zidovski trg., Bottom: Koper, Slovenia. Former Zidovska ulica.
Photos: Ruth Ellen Gruber/U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad (ISJM archive).

Other events will take place in Slovenia on September 6th in Lendava, where the former 1866 synagogue (now a cultural center) will be open with a small exhibition. There will also be tours of the Jewish history and sites of the town.

Lendava, Slovenia. Former Synagogue, now cultural center. Photos: Lendava municipality (posted on web at time of Center inauguration, link now dead).

For the most complete account of Jewish heritage sites in Slovenia see the jewish-heritage-europe.eu Slovenia page.

For more on the Maribor synagogue and cultural center see also:

Kulturni Center Sinagoga Maribor
(Maribor Synagogue Cultural Centre)
Židovska Ulica 4
2000 Maribor
Slovenia
http://users.volja.net/zemljicbo/
http://www.pmuzej-mb.si/stran.php?sinagoga-predstavitev

For links to events in other countries click here.