Printer Friendly

Email to A Friend

Friday May 27, 2005

Dead Sea Scrolls and rock bands mark German-Israeli culture swap

by toby axelrod
jta

berlin | A new exhibit opened here, focusing on 100 years of art in Israel.

“The New Hebrews” brings part of the Dead Sea Scrolls out of Israel for the first time, in honor of 40 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and the Jewish state.

At the opening ceremony on May 19, Israel’s Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom addressed the several hundred guests.

“Communication on a cultural level is of great importance for understanding between people,” he said during the high-security event. “The dialogue of feeling is particularly important if it expresses things that words cannot describe.”

Housed in Berlin’s Martin Gropius-Bau Museum, the exhibit includes ancient artifacts and contemporary art, from film and photographs to sculpture, drawings and paintings. It opened to the public on May 20 and will remain there until Sept. 5.

Featured in the exhibit: fabulously intricate silver filigree pieces from the Bezalel Workshop in early 20th century Jerusalem; postwar posters urging Jews in Europe to emigrate to pre-state Israel; illustrated Bibles and haggadot made by artists who emigrated to Israel from Europe; expressionist prints and paintings and gaudy, in-your-face modern pieces. There are also several films, including one about the trial of Adolf Eichmann.

Among other things, the curators — a team from the German museum working with a team from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem — brought a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls out of Israel for the first time.

“It is a kind of ‘Mona Lisa’ for us,” said James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum. “We are proud of its first voyage away from Israel.”

Along with Shalom, other speakers at the opening included German Interior Minister Otto Schily, curator Yigal Zalmona of the Israel Museum and curator Doreet LeVitte Harten of the Martin Gropius-Bau.

Supporters of German-Israeli relations are making an extra push in this anniversary year to encourage connections between younger generations in both countries. Lufthansa Airlines said it will subsidize flights to Israel for fans of the Sons of Mannheim, a popular German rock group performing one concert June 8 at the Tel Aviv opera house.

Band leader Michael Herberger said his strong commitment to Israel is based on his religious convictions as a Protestant, and that he looked forward to helping strengthen ties among young people in both countries.

The Israel trip — followed by the performance of an Israeli rock group in Germany next September — has support from the Israeli Embassy, Lufthansa and the German-Israeli Society in Berlin.

Did you find this article interesting? Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and you'll be notified each week when "J." goes online. We'll tell you about the most important stories of the week and give you a link to each one.

This page contains a BETA version of Amazon contextual links. They are marked by the dashed underline.  Your purchases support our site. At times they point to items which are not related to the actual link. Please alert us by email if you discover objectionable links.