Jüdische Schweiz / Jewish Switzerland

A journey through Switzerland’s Jewish history.

Ritual objects, tools, documents and books from the oldest cultural minority

Jews make up the oldest cultural minority on the territory of today’s Switzerland, having a history that extends back to Antiquity. Jews were welcomed and persecuted in Switzerland, alternately, recruited and harassed, emancipated and controlled. Fifty objects, most of them from the collection of the Jewish Museum, tell of the relations between Jews and Non-Jews from Roman times to the present.

What do tiny dice, a tea service, students’ beer mugs, a Torah roll, the kipa with football motifs or inconspicuous objects tell us about the history of the Jews? The histories of the objects provide insight into Swiss history that becomes high in contrast when seen from the perspective of its most-discussed minority.

About the authors:
Caspar Battegay (*1978) is a literary and cultural scientist. His 2017 doctorate of about German-Jewish Utopian Literature. He has published, among other thing,Judentum und Popkultur. Ein Essay (2012)
Naomi Lubrich (*1976) is director of the Swiss Jewish Museum. She is an art historian, literary scientist and author.

Es ist ein eigentliches puzzleartiges Geschichtenbuch über die jüdische Schweiz, die seit der Antike existiert und den Jüdinnen und Juden manchmal wohl, manchmal nicht so wohlgesinnt gewesen ist. Ein äusserst lesenswertes Buch. (Dominik Heitz, Basler Zeitung, 19.04.2018)