Opening ceremony
Schönbeck. On Tuesday afternoon, 3 November, representatives from the district and the town will once again welcome interested members of the public to the Salzlandmuseum in a festive setting, alongside museum director Petra Koch and the participating partners. Dr Hilmar Steffen from the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Saxony-Anhalt is expected to attend as a guest. He is also deputy director of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and will give a talk on ‘Anti-Semitism in Saxony-Anhalt’. The event is open to the public. Registration is requested. Further events will follow until 21 November.
Opening event | Tuesday, 3 November, 5.00–6.30 pm (doors open from 4.30 pm) | Salzlandmuseum, Pfännerstraße 41, Schönebeck
‘The Train Driver of Death’ – Book reading with John Wyttmark, novelist, Delitzsch
A historically accurate novel set in the darkest of times.
According to information from the Regional Association of Jewish Communities in Saxony-Anhalt, the novel *Lokführer des Todes* is an official part of the Yad Vashem library in Israel.
Contents:
“Soft whimpers and groans could be heard from inside the carriages. The train was standing on the platform, ready to depart. The sun was already beating down with full force on the carriages, which absorbed the heat and passed it on to the tormented passengers inside. Engine driver Hilse climbed onto his cab. He estimated that they would be on the move for three to four days. The train was due to travel to Auschwitz …”
Hilse is one of the cogs in the machinery of Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’. He drives thousands upon thousands towards their certain doom. Yet there is also resistance. When his future colleague Klaus is made aware of the ‘Secret Reich Matter’ clause in his employment contract, he suspects that it involves the transport of wonder weapons to the Russian front or elsewhere. If he were to speak out, it would automatically mean a death sentence. At this point, he has no idea that he would be transporting people condemned to death to extermination camps. Now he accompanies Hilse and resolves to confront the unspeakable horror.
This book is dedicated to the countless victims of this madness and to the brave souls who rose up in defiance. Locomotives carried men, women and children – entire families – to their deaths. Those who made this possible – the small cogs in the machinery of evil – were just as complicit as the commanders. For: ‘great things begin with small ones’.
For organisational reasons, please register with the Salzlandmuseum by 5 November. There is no charge for taking part.
Book reading: ‘The Train Driver of Death’, by John Wyttmark | Friday 6 November, 6.00–8.00 pm | Salzlandmuseum, Pfännerstraße 41, Schönebeck
“A journey of discovery. Experience the Gröbzig Synagogue.”
Talk by Dorisz Macher, museum educator at the Gröbzig Synagogue
A Jewish community was established in Gröbzig over 300 years ago. The liberal settlement policy of the princes of Anhalt, as well as the proximity to trade fair cities such as Leipzig,
Braunschweig and Köthen made the town an attractive place for Jewish families. The earliest references to Jewish life date from the years 1660 and 1670. Documents from this period confirm Jewish participation in the market day. Ten years later, the Jewish cemetery was established – a sign of a stable community.
In the second half of the 18th century, the parish grew to account for over 15 per cent of the
Urban population. The first synagogue had to be demolished as it had fallen into disrepair. A new synagogue was inaugurated in its place in 1796. From the 1830s onwards, the liberal Jewish movement, inspired by the Dessau community, spread throughout Gröbzig. In 1858, the synagogue was remodelled: the open vestibule was enclosed, and men and women now entered the building through a shared entrance. As part of further reforms and alterations, the bimah (lectern for the Torah scroll) was moved in front of the Torah ark, individual seats were replaced by benches, and the structure of the services was modernised. The synagogue grounds were extended through the purchase of the neighbouring plot. The cantor and the teacher now lived here, and the former smithy was converted into a school. From 1841 onwards, Jewish children attended the municipal school. Consequently, only religious instruction took place in the Jewish community’s new school. The old school building was demolished and replaced by a gatehouse. On the other side of the front garden, a carriage house for the hearse was built.
With the founding of the German Empire in 1871, Jewish citizens were granted equal rights and were able to pursue careers outside the fields of commerce and finance. Many families moved to larger towns, causing the community to shrink considerably. They handed the building over to the town for 50 years so that a local history museum could be established there, which opened in 1935. In the same year, the synagogue and the Jewish cemetery were listed as historic monuments. These circumstances saved the synagogue from destruction during the November pogrom of 1938.
During the Nazi era, the last Jewish residents were forced to move into the cantor’s house before being deported and murdered. The deportation of Rosalie Meyerstein to a Jewish care home in Halle/Saale in 1940 marked the end of Gröbzig’s Jewish community.
In 1984, following decades of use as a local history museum, restoration work began with the aim of restoring the synagogue to its original condition. In 1988, the ‘Gröbzig Synagogue Museum’ was opened. Since then, various special and permanent exhibitions have provided insights into Jewish culture and, above all, into the Jewish history of the town and the region.
Following its reopening in November 2024, the museum will feature accessible entrances and a new, modern permanent exhibition after five years of refurbishment work. (Excerpts from: https://www.groebziger-synagoge.de/)
For organisational reasons, please register with the Salzlandmuseum by 9 November. Participation is free of charge.
“A journey of discovery: experiencing the Gröbzig synagogue”, a talk by and featuring museum educator Dorisz Macher | Tuesday 10 November, 5.00–6.30 pm | Salzlandmuseum, Pfännerstraße 41, Schönebeck
Invitation to a musical evening with the band ‘Foyal’
Since its formation in 2000, the Magdeburg-based band ‘Foyal’ has devoted itself first to more traditional klezmer, Balkan and Roma music, and later also to Breton and Irish folk. In doing so, the band’s musicians forge their own musical paths with the aim of remaining authentic and bringing folk music to life. The joy of playing and their own musical expression are their top priorities.
There are tears and laughter; musical ideas are developed and weave together into a musical concept without losing their flow. The musicians in the band ‘Foyal’ understand and live music as a universal language. Since May 2019, the band ‘Foyal’ has been performing in the musical ‘Anatevka’.
Participation is free of charge. For organisational reasons, please register with the Salzlandmuseum by 13 November.
An evening of music with the band ‘Foyal’ | Monday, 16 November, 6.30–8.00 pm | Salzlandmuseum, Pfännerstraße 41, Schönebeck