Exhibition archive

Every Torah shrine in every synagogue contains at least three large parchment scrolls from which the respective weekly portion of the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, is read. As sacred objects, they are dressed in embroidered mantles and decorated with a crown and breastplate – as they were in the 30 or so prayer houses that existed in Lower Austria until they were destroyed by the Nazis. What happened to these objects?

From 15 April to 15 November 2026, this exhibition will show seven ceremonial objects from Lower Austrian synagogues and tell their stories. These objects were either brought to Vienna in the nick of time before the November Pogroms in 1938 or were traded as stolen items and acquired by collectors or museums. However, most Judaica objects were destroyed or went missing, with only photos and documents remaining to prove their existence. These will also be made visible in the exhibition.

In Kooperation mit dem Jüdischen Museum Wien

Curation and texts: Martha Keil
Design: Renate Stockreiter

The new temporary exhibition in the upper women's gallery will be on display from April 11 to November 9, 2025 and is dedicated to the photographer Kurt Bardos and his family. Their eventful history, shaped by the Shoah, the communist dictatorship and several migrations, is told from the perspective of his sister Ilse. Martha Keil, curator of the exhibition and academic director of the museum, juxtaposes Kurt Bardos' artistic photographs with the family memories.

Kurt Bardos was born in Brno in 1914 into an old Austrian bourgeois Jewish family. He studied medicine, but his true vocation was photography. In December 1941, the entire family was deported to Theresienstadt; Kurt and his wife Zdenka were deported on to Auschwitz in 1944. There his trail is lost.

His photos, which were recovered in an almost miraculous way, show the creative way in which Bardos interpreted the stylistic devices of New Objectivity for himself and translated them into his precisely composed images. In addition to the photos and two video interviews with family members, some objects from the family estate will also be on display, which have surprisingly survived despite the breaks and changes of location.

Der Katalog zur Ausstellung ist im Museumsshop der Ehemaligen Synagoge erhältlich. Dieses erste Werkverzeichnis von Kurt Bardos enthält 60 Fotografien, die zwischen den Jahren 1935 und 1939 entstanden sind.

Konzept, Kuratierung und Texte: Martha Keil
Gestaltung und Grafik-Design: Atelier Renate Stockreiter
Projektkoordination: Heidrun-Ulrike Wenzel
Grafikproduktion: e.h. montagen – Alexander Horak
Mediengestaltung: Hermann Amon

17 May – 10 November 2024

People move, whether by choice or by force. They take things with them or leave them behind, literally transporting them from one place to another. But these objects also move on an emotional level – especially things a person has had to leave behind or has lost along the way. Refugees and people driven from their homes associate these objects with their family, home and culture. As a result, everyday objects become symbols of loss; things of no material value become precious mementos.

This exhibition offers a look at the external and internal movement of and by objects; on view are several objects that belonged to Jewish people who were persecuted and expelled by the Nazis. They bear witness to a history of violence. In cases where the objects themselves were subjected to violent acts, we see another form of movement in the sense of transformation: their material composition and appearance have been changed by the damage. That shift also affected their use: they were discarded, repurposed or – as many ritual objects – became museum exhibits.

Finally, there is an emphasis on upcycling, a practice deeply rooted in Jewish tradition since ancient times. In fact, an object can only be recycled “up”, so to speak: while secular or mundane items can be transformed for sacred use – as in the case of a wedding dress turned into a Torah curtain, for example – the opposite is forbidden. These days, upcycling has taken on global significance: a Hanukkah menorah made from a bicycle chain symbolises sustainability and responsibility.

Curator: Martha Keil
Design: Renate Stockreiter
Coordination: Heidrun Wenzel
Project management: Ariadni Yfanti

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Der Katalog zur Ausstellung ist im Museumsshop der Ehemaligen Synagoge erhältlich.

Kuratorin: Martha Keil
Design: Renate Stockreiter
Koordination: Heidrun Wenzel
Projektbetreuung: Ariadni Yfanti