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marian@ich.ms
The feature and silent film from 1924 shows how a fictional republic expels all its Jewish citizens. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Hugo Bettauer, which has the subtitle "Novel of the Day After Tomorrow" and, unlike the film, is set in Vienna in the 1920s. But Vienna is just one example; the novel could also have been set in Berlin.
Image gallery
KEY VISUAL Stadt ohne Juden
In fact, for decades it was part of the standard repertoire of anti-Semitic parties in Germany and Austria to demand the expulsion of Jews, especially those who had immigrated from Eastern Europe. This intensified in the politically polarized climate after the end of the First World War.
In 1920, collection camps for "undesirable foreigners" were set up for Jews from Eastern Europe in Prussia and Bavaria, and they were occasionally expelled from Bavaria; the Berlin police chief spoke of a "plague of Eastern Jews" and in November 1923 a pogrom took place in the Scheunenviertel, directly west of Alexanderplatz, in the vicinity of the New Synagogue in Berlin.
Later, the novel and the film sequences of the expulsion were seen as almost prophetic of the first years of the Nazi regime. The exclusion and then expulsion of the Jews was followed by physical annihilation.
How relevant is the film after 100 years?
People are experiencing extreme political polarization, a general mood of dissatisfaction among large sections of the population and a questioning of democracy. They are experiencing the rise of right-wing extremist forces and parties that are deliberately focusing on exclusion and devaluation and conjuring up a homogeneous "national community". They are experiencing very real fantasies of expulsion against "others", against supposed foreignness.
In the film - in contrast to the book - there is a happy ending. History never repeats itself exactly, but which path will we, will our society take here? A good opportunity to see the entire film on a big screen in the exhibition and perhaps also to talk to other visitors.
Film "The City Without Jews"
August 4 to September 22, 2024
Every Sunday: 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Every Wednesday: 4:00 p.m. with introduction
German, with English subtitles. In cooperation with Filmarchiv Austria
Additional information
Meeting point: Women's gallery in the New Synagogue Berlin
Price info: The entrance fees for the museum apply.
Price: €7.00
Reduced price: €4.50
Booking: info@centrumjudaicum.de
