Welcome and “Roots” @museum.de

Hello, and welcome to the Jewish Museum Creglingen.

Right on this spot, in what’s now Badgasse number 3, Simson von Reinsbronn bought a house back in the early 17th century. Simson was the first Jewish resident allowed to acquire real estate in Creglingen and he is now regarded as the forefather of the local Jewish community. The history of that community and of its members, who also set up their first prayer room in Simson’s house, is the subject of our tour.

Start by taking a look at the fan-shaped mural. It shows a section of the ancestral chart of Creglingen Jews. The names of the people who owned this house appear in dark red. Amson, Blumenfeld and Stern – you’ll encounter some of those families again in the course of our tour.

The last owner of this building was Hermann Stern. His son, Emil Stern, was the last Jewish resident to leave Creglingen. He managed to flee to the US in 1939 – it was a close call.

So Badgasse number 3 is very closely linked to both the beginning and the end of the Jewish community in Creglingen.

On the far right of the ancestral chart, the fourth label from the top records the names of Josef Sinsheimer and Helmine Oberndörfer. They emigrated to the United States as teenagers in 1885 and went on to marry in New York in 1893. Their grandson, Dr. Arthur S. Obermayer, was the driving force behind the founding of this museum. In 1999, he worked with a group of local Creglingen residents to establish the foundation Stiftung Jüdisches Museum Creglingen.

Obermayer was motivated by rapprochement, reconciliation and the struggle against hate and intolerance. Within a few short years, his initiative made it possible to purchase and remodel the house, explore the history of Creglingen’s Jews, and ultimately, to inaugurate the museum in the year 2,000.

Roots, destinations, survival – across three floors, we’ll introduce you to people who, for centuries, lived alongside the Christian majority population as next-door neighbors. Here on the first floor, it’s all about those people’s roots in and around Creglingen. The length of cloth immediately to your right is our next stop.