Status: 20.02.2024

Joint statement by the Harz University of Applied Sciences and the Moses Mendelssohn Academy on the damage to the banner about Jewish business life on Willy-Cohn-Platz

In 2021, the Harz University of Applied Sciences and the Moses Mendelssohn Academy (with Berend Lehmann Museum/BLM) signed a cooperation agreement.
Since then, there has been a fruitful exchange between the university and the museum.
Educational programs offered by the BLM are used by students and teaching staff at the university, and the BLM staff in turn participate in the work of the university.
One aim of the cooperation is to promote the intercultural skills of students in the Department of Administrative Sciences.

A part of the cooperation that is also visible to the outside world is the joint realization of the “Open Jewish Houses” project, which has traditionally been carried out by the Moses Mendelssohn Academy on Open Monument Day for several years.
As part of this project, a banner depicting Jewish business life in Halberstadt around 1918 was put up for the first time in September 2023 on Willy-Cohn-Platz in front of the Harz University of Applied Sciences.
The banner was financed by the State Center for Political Education, which is also a cooperation partner for the “Day of Open Jewish Houses” in Halberstadt.
The banner was also included in the museum’s educational programs (Jewish city tour) following the Open Monument Day.
It was then destroyed by cutting between Thursday, 01.02.2024, and Saturday, 03.02.2024.
The damage was immediately reported to the police and a complaint was filed.

Anne Matviyets, Chief Curator of the Berend Lehmann Museum, explains: “The hanging of the banner has given Halberstadt’s Jewish-German history a new visibility in the public space. After the theft of the Judenstraße street sign and the smearing of the Stones of Remembrance, this damage to property is the third incident in just a few weeks that can be classified as an anti-Semitic act. We are watching the developments with concern.”

Prof. Dr. Folker Roland emphasizes: “Jewish-German history is part of Halberstadt’s history. We are pleased to be able to make this perspective visible as part of the cooperation and to sensitize people to it. Especially in view of current social developments and the increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, the destruction of this testimony to Jewish life is to be condemned. We hope that the case will be solved.”