Jewish Museum Munich

In 1928, a group of individuals interested in Jewish history and culture gathered for the first time with the intent of creating a Jewish museum in Munich. The project lay dormant until it was revived almost two decades after the Shoah, by Hans Lamm, longtime head of the Jewish community. Though Lamm was not able to realize the creation of the museum, the ambitious efforts of a private gallery owner Richard Grimm in the 1980s gave the project its decisive momentum. Grimm decided to open a private Jewish museum in a small space on Maximilianstraße. As a rare source of Jewish history and culture in Munich, Grimm’s highly frequented museum made the need for a larger, public institution apparent. When the temporary museum closed for financial reasons ten years later, the Jewish community took in the Grimm Collection and arranged for a provisional exhibition space. The opportunity for creating a Jewish Museum as a municipal project finally presented itself when the Jewish community decided to build its new main synagogue and community center at St.-Jakobs-Platz. Together with the Ohel Jakob Synagogue, the new main synagogue, and the community center of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, the Jewish Museum, which is supported by the State Capital of Munich, forms an exceptional architectural ensemble on St. Jakobs Platz.