Pioneering Jewish academy opens in Germany

The western city of Frankfurt was a very conscious choice of location for the new academy, which is the first of its kind in Germany. Frankfurt has traditionally been a hub of Jewish intellectual life — still one of the most important centers of Jewish life in Germany today alongside Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf.

Less than a 10-minute walk from the city's biggest synagogue, the Jewish Academy is also within sight of the historic festival hall building on Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds where the Nazis herded Jewish men in 1938 and deported them to concentration camps .

It was also here that the Central Council of Jews in Germany was founded in 1950; Berlin serves as its headquarters today. Frankfurt is also home to the Central Welfare Board of Jews in Germany (ZWST) and a Jewish museum that opened in 1988.

Jewish thinkers have played a key role in Frankfurt's intellectual and academic history. The city's Jewish community contributed to the establishment of Goethe University in 1914.

Another important legacy is the Jewish Lehrhaus (house of study). Founded in 1920, it quickly gained prominence and is today associated with the philosopher Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929). It was closed by the Nazis in 1938. The new academy sees itself in the tradition of Rosenzweig's Lehrhaus .

本文の著作権はDeutsche Welleにあります。