Jewish Museum Munich

Jewish survivors from Eastern Europe founded the Central Historical Commission in Munich in November 1945 with the aim of documenting the annihilation of Jewry in Europe. Despite their precarious living conditions and their very heterogeneous backgrounds, Jews were encouraged by historians and activists to provide direct witness accounts of events during the Shoah, using questionnaires and interviews.

In October 1945, the Chief Rabbinate was established at the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in Bavaria. The two Lithuanian rabbis Samuel A. Snieg and Samuel Ros were at its head. In addition, Rabbi Baruch Leiserowksi was on the council representing the urban district of Munich. The council was responsible for all religious matters and appointed representatives in all DP camps.

In April 1946, the Jewish Committee Munich opened the first kosher kitchen in the city in Victor-Scheffel-Strasse. As up to 8,000 Jews were living in Munich, what it could produce was not enough by any means. Additional kitchens were opened so that, at times, five such canteens existed in the municipal area: in Möhlstrasse, Frauenstrasse, and Zweibrückenstrasse, as well as in Hauptstrasse, as it was then called, in the suburb of Feldmoching.

Although the Zionist organizations favored Yiddish or Hebrew, a few DP newspapers also appeared in other languages such as Polish, Romanian or, as in the case of Utunk (Our Way), Hungarian.

The Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet Leisrael, KKL) was founded in 1901 at the 5th Zionist Congress in Basel. The aim of the fund was to collect donations worldwide to support the Jewish settlement movement in what was then Palestine. After the founding of the State of Israel, the KKL focused its work on the cultivation and reforestation of the country.

The Jewish Agency for Palestine (Heb. Sochnut) was founded in 1922 as the official body of the Jewish population living in what was then Palestine. It represented their interests before the governing authorities of the British Mandate and the League of Nations. After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the organization changed its name and, as the Jewish Agency for Israel, increasingly promoted immigration and the integration of new migrants.

Pechach is a Hebrew acronym for Partisanim—Chayalim—Chaluzim, meaning partisans—soldiers—pioneers. The newspaper Pechach was published for the movement of the same name in Munich from June 1946 until December 1948.

Dror (Heb. freedom) is a socialist-Zionist youth movement founded in Russia before World War I. The organization was also represented in Poland, the Baltic States, Romania, and Hungary. Dror members came mainly from the proletarian milieu and were active in many DP camps for children and youths.

Abram Schwarzberg received a concession to open a kosher butcher’s shop in 1947. For the majority of the DPs, the availability of kosher slaughtered meat was very important. On February 2, 1947, Schwarzberg’s shop was vandalized when a stone was thrown through the window in an antisemitic attack.

In 1937 a small residential estate of some 200 houses, called the “Reichskleinsiedlung Kaltherberge,” was built for working-class families in need. At the end of 1945 it was seized by the U.S. military government. All German residents had to move out of their homes—leaving all their furniture behind— to provide accommodation for about 2,000 Jewish DPs. In addition, a school, a synagogue, a sports club, and a kindergarten were built there. From 1949 onwards, the former residents were able to return to their homes. The last DPs moved out in May 1950.