in detail
After almost two decades in preparaion and several temporary exhibitions, the first Jewish Museum opened its doors in Budapest on 16 January 1916. A second opening of the newly renovated museum with a far larger collection took place on 26 December 1926 in the building complex of the Jewish Cutural Centre on Dohany Street. The museum subsequently put on numerous special exhibitions.
During the war, the Hungarian Jews came under mounting repression. For that reason, the museum directors began in 1942 to transfer the most important objects out of the building. Some were evacuated to the cellar of the National Museum.
After the Germans took power in 1944, a ghetto was set up in Budapest at the edge of the museum building. As a result of a breach in a wall in the museum, Jews in the sealed-off ghetto were able to flee, and food could be smuggled into the ghetto.
The renovated museum was opened after the war thanks in particular to the assistance of the Claims Conference. On 4 July 1947, the exhibition on Jewish history and religion was reopened. Several years later, the museum obtained access to a side wing of the building where a Holocaust exhibition is now located.
16 January 1916
Opening of the first Jewish Museum in Budapest.
26 December 1926
Opening of the second Jewish Museum in the Jewish Cultural Centre on Dohany Street.
Beginning in 1942
Evacuation of the most important exhibition objects, inter alia to the cellar of the National Museum.
1944
During the German occupation, the museum building was located directly on the edge of the Jewish ghetto. Thanks to a breach in the wall, Jews were able to flee from the sealed-off ghetto through the museum.
4 July 1947
Reopening of the renovated museum; several years later it obtains access to a side wing where a Holocaust exhibition is now located.
Budapest, 2004, The complex of buildings of the Jewish Museum, Th. Lutz/Topographie des Terrors.
Budapest, 2004, Exhibition room of the Jewish Museum, Th. Lutz/Topographie des Terrors.
