Colourful Finale of the Martin-Buber-Jubilee in Heppenheim

The centennial of the Buber-familiy´s move to Heppenheim in March 1916 marked the end of the Martin-Buber-Jubilee. An Open House at Martin-Buber-House on Saturday, March 12th, and the opening of an art exhibition dedicated to the works of Barbara Goldschmidt nee Buber celebrated the close of the Buber-festivities starting in June 2015 with the 50th anniversary of Martin Buber´s death.

The Open House featured a program in the morning for children age 4 to 7. They helped Esther Graf and Manja Altenburg (Agency for Jewish Culture, Mannheim) who had designed these special activities, unpack the Buber´s crates. While there were familiar things like books and toys they also found objects that belong to everyday- life of a jewish family. Each discovery was examined by the children and then explained by Esther and Manja. With a house-warming party the workshop came to a close.

The afternoon was dedicated to youngsters age 8 to 14 and focused on kosher food and its preparation. The Buber-family itself did not live kosher but had many friends who did.

During the program parents and interested visitors were invited to tour the house with a cup of coffee under the guidance of Birgit Meurer, coordinator of regional outreach of ICCJ’s headquarters, the Martin-Buber-House.

On Sunday, March 13th, an exhibition of works of the late Barbara Buber-Goldschmidt was opened at Heppenheim City Museum.

Barbara Goldschmidt was the granddaughter of Martin and Paula Buber and was raised in Heppenheim with her younger sister Judith after their parents' divorce in 1926. From early on she made drawings and painted so her later life as an artist was already to be anticipated. After the family emigrated to Jerusalem in March 1938, she finished school  and attended Bezalel Art Academy, where she later worked as a professor and met her spouse, Zeev Goldschmidt.

At the exhibition of the Heppenheim City Museum drawings and water colors of women portraits are shown until April 10th. Tamar Brison-Goldschmidt, daughter of the artist, selected them herself from the familiy´s private collection. The women portrayed were caught in a moment of contemplation, it seems they are ready to resume their everyday-activities any time.

Tamar and her son, Amos Brison, attended the opening personally.

An arthistorical introduction was given by Prof. Annette Weber of the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg (HfJS).

The Mayor of Heppenheim, Rainer Burelbach, and ICCJ General Secretary, Anette Adelmann, greeted the guests of the regional political, cultural and art community.

Live Jazz music and local champagne set a pleasurable mood and reflected the ease of the art work in pastell crayons, water colors and charcoal.

 

Editorial remarks

Birgit Meurer is Coordinator of Regional Outreach at the Martin-Buber-House, Heppenheim/Germany.