2023
Memorial Concert V, September 16, 2023
Fifth Memorial Concert to honor the Liberation Concert 1945 in St. Ottilien under the patronage of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. Please find here the program.
Second Artist in Residence, July-August 2023
A jury selected photographers Christoph Brech (Munich) and Daniel Terna (New York) as second artists in residence at St. Ottilien. They will present the topics of freedom, tolerance and truth in an exposition during the 5th Memorial Concert.
2022
Memorial Concert IV, September 1, 2022
Fourth Memorial Concert to honor the Liberation Concert 1945 in St. Ottilien under the patronage of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. Please find here the program.
First Artist in Residence, May 5-15
Eliaf Kohl – first artist in residence for the Liberation Concert Program – will stay in St. Ottilien and gather impressions for a composition which will be performed by the Kaunas Quartett. About his person see this presentation.
2021
Memorial Concert III, September 18, 2021
Third Memorial Concert to honor the Liberation Concert 1945 in St. Ottilien under the patronage of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. The Concert organized by Ammerseerenade will be performed by the Chamber Orchestra of the National Theatre of Prague. Soloist: Elena Bashkirov, piano. The concert includes pieces by Albinoni, Mozart, Weber and Kozeluh. Please find here a detailed program with welcome addresses and the performance of the concert.
2020
Memorial Film „Liberation Concert“
Due to Covid 19 the Memorial Concert III had to be postponed to 2021. Instead of a concert a film honors the memory of the 75th anniversary of the „Liberation Concert“: see English film or German film. As first „artist in residence“ Eliav Kol from Tel Aviv was selected.
Yom Hashoah Commemoration, May 5
In a multimedia presentation at Fair Lawn, NJ, Dr. Yair Grinberg shared recollections of his father, Dr. Zalman Grinberg, and his work with DPs. Organized in cooperation with the Foundation for Holocaust Education Projects.
Memorial Concert II, September 27, 2019
Second Memorial Concert in memory of the Liberation Concert 1945 in St. Ottilien under the patronage of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. The Concert organized by Ammerseerenade was performed by the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra directed by Vladimir Fedoseyev, Moscow. Soloist: Elisabeth Leonskaja. Program see AMMERSEErenade_Benefitconcert_engl
2018
Installation of Commemorative Plaque, May 8
Sonia Beker together with friends dedicated a plaque at the site of the Liberation Concert in the school compound of St. Ottilien. Her parents were part of the Camp Orchestra which for one year had its headquarter at the Jewish Hospital of St. Ottilien. The inauguration took place on Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at the small lake close to the old school buildings. Organization and more information at Die Kunstbaustelle
Exhibition, June to September
The fascinating history of the DP Hospital was be presented in the Gallery of St. Ottilien by the Jewish Museum Munich: „The Benedictine Monastery of St. Ottilien and its Jewish History 1945-48“ (June 10 – September 23, 2018). The Jewish Museum Munich showed an installation in its own site dealing with the same topic from May 13 – September 23, 2018.
Symposium
A research colloquium about the history of the DP Hospital (June 10 – June 12, 2018) in the Guest house of the monastery. Among other topics, it dealt with medical care and organization of the hospital, children at St. Ottilien, religious life (Yeshiva of Abba Snieg at St. Ottilien) and cultural activities. The symposium was organized by the Department for Jewish History and Culture of the Munich University. Moderator: Evita Wiecki.
Schedule of the Symposium
Sunday, June 10, 2018
14:00 Opening of the exhibition “The Benedictine Monastery St. Ottilien and its Jewish History 1945-48”
in cooperation with the Jewish Museum of Munich and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich
Greetings by Archabbot Wolfgang Oexler (St. Ottilien), Dr. Charlotte Knobloch (Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria), Thomas Eichinger (District Administrator of Landsberg am Lech), and Mayor Joseph Loy (Eresing)
Presentation by Dr. Julia Fleckenstein (Jewish Museum of Munich)
Place: Gallery of St. Ottilien
15:30 Jewish Life in Postwar Bavaria
Public conference by Prof. Dr. Michael Brenner (Jewish History Department of Munich)
Moderation: Thorsten Otto, Music: Susanne Weinhoeppel
Place: Retreat House of St. Ottilien, Lecture Room, 3rd floor
Followed by Reception
German with simultaneous translation
18:00 Opening and Introduction of the Symposium
Presentation: Evita Wiecki and Fr Cyrill Schaefer
18:30 An Arduous Journey: Tracing St. Ottilien’s History after WWII
Prof. Andrea Sinn, Elon University, USA
Audio:
20:00 Barbecue in the Garden of the Guest-House
Monday, June 11, 2018
9:00
“Tout déporté […] est colis fragile”—Careful: Fragile—The Health Problems of Shoah Survivors
Dr. Jael Geis, Jewish Museum Berlin
“Undzer gezunt”— Medical Care Provided to DPs in the American Occupation Zone as Illustrated by
the St. Ottilien Hospital
Evita Wiecki M.A., University of Munich
Dr. Zalman Grinberg: A Physician as a Public Leader
Ada Shein, Jerusalem
Audio:
Coffee Break
11:30
Jewish Religious Life in St. Ottilien
Julia Schneidewind, University of Munich
Audio:
Rabbi Abraham Klausner, Zalman Grinberg, and DP Zionism
Prof. Avinoam Patt, Hartford University, USA
Audio:
12.45 Lunch
15:00 “Zakhor – Remember!” But How Shall We Remember? And What? About Memory and Theories of Memory
Prof. Erik Petry, Center of Jewish Studies, Basel
Audio:
“Föhrenwald” and “Sankt Ottilien” – How the History of Displaced Persons Can Be Museumized
Jutta Fleckenstein, Jewish Museum Munich followed by panel discussion
St. Ottilien’s Place in the Family Histories of the Survivors’ Descendants. A discussion with Yair Grinberg, Eli and Moshe Ipp, and David Avnir
Moderation: Dr. Gabriele Hammermann, Dachau
Audio:
18:00 Dinner
19:30 Talk with the contemporary witness Robert Hilliard
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Erik Petry, Basel
Audio 1:
Audio 2:
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
9:00
Survivors, Repatriates, Infiltrees, Displaced Persons: Gender, Generation, and Varieties of DP Experience
Atina Grossman, Cooper Union, New York
Audio:
How International Organizations Viewed DP Children
Dr. Claudia Moisel, University of Munich
Displaced Children: Childcare at St. Ottilien
Carolin Piorun, University of Munich
Audio:
Coffee Break
11:30 The Culture Delegation of the World Jewish Congress and its Visit to the Sheyres Hapleyte at St. Ottilien
Dr. Tamar Lewinsky, Jewish Museum Berlin
German—Jewish Encounters at the St. Ottilien DP Hospital
Mirjam Spandri, University of Munich
12.45 Lunch
16:30 Departure for the Kaufering Camp 7 and guided tour
18:30: Reception at the Historical Town Hall of Landsberg am Lech by Town Mayor Mathias Neuner
Installing Memorial Sites in the District of Landsberg am Lech
Ulrich Fritz, Bavarian Foundation for Memorial Sites
Farewell Dinner in Landsberg am Lech and return to St. Ottilien.
Program after the Symposium … for those who have travelled long distances
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
9:00 Departure by bus from the parking site of the monastery
9:30 Guided tour through the underground military compound Kaufering (Welfenkaserne) which was constructed by forced labor from the Kaufering Concentration Camps
14.30 Guided tour through the Memorial Site Dachau
Thursday, June 14, 2018
9:00 Departure by bus from the parking site of the monastery
10:00 Munich: Guided tour through the Synagogue and the Jewish Museum (Exposition: St. Ottilien and its Jewish History 1945-48)
12:30 Lunch at Restaurant Einstein
Afternoon: Exploring Munich City Centre with guide Dan Chaim Eytan
17:00 Return to St. Ottilien
Friday, June 15, 2018
10:00 Visit of the Synagogue of Augsburg and a walk through the city center of Augsburg.
15.00 Return to St. Ottilien
Documentation of the Symposium by Emanuella Grinberg in Smithsonian
Documentation of the Symposium by Carolin Piorun in Hypotheses
Memorial Concert I, September 23, 2018
Memorial concert in memory the Liberation Concert of May 27, 1945, on Sunday, September 23, 2018, 15:00, under the patronage of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. The concert was organized by Ammerseerenade and performed by the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music of Tel Aviv directed by Zeev Dorman. Soloists: Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin and direction), Hila Baggio (soprano). See the review by the Bavarian Television.
Article about the Liberation Concert by Emanuella Grinberg in Atlas obscura