uing indefinitely," he has written.
The architect had three goals when
designing the building: the enormous
contribution to Berlin history made
by its Jewish citizens, the necessity of
integrating Holocaust memory into
the consciousness of the city and the
acknowledgment of the erasure and
void of Berlin's Jewish life.
Exhibitions are scheduled to open
in the fall of 2000, but no one seems
to know just which artifacts the muse-
um will display.
The controversy involves an ongo-
ing dispute regarding the proposed
national Holocaust memorial in
Berlin, which has faced more than a
decade of dickering. A compromise
plan for the memorial — which was
negotiated by former U.S. Treasury
Secretary Michael Blumenthal, the
head of Jewish Museum — adds a
research center and a giant wall of 1
million books to the monument,
which was designed by American
architect Peter Eisenman, but reduces
its size. Its cost still remains a stum-
bling block. Instead of its original $9
million price tag, the latest plan has
become a $54 million project.
The agreement on the memorial,
however, does appear to pave the way
for an arrangement between the
Jewish Museum and the memorial,
although exactly what the relationship
will be remains unclear.
The museum itself has not been
free from controversy.
The city of Berlin fired the muse-
um's previous director, Israeli curator
Amon Barzel, in part because he want-
ed the museum to project a more uni-
versal and contemporary approach to
Jewish art and history.
The dispute between Barzel and
Berlin government officials became so
intense that the officials began refer-
ring to the building as "the Libeskind
Building," stripping it of the designa-
tion "Jewish Museum." At one point,
the Berlin City Museum also threat-
ened to take over large parts of the
exhibition space for displays on non-
Jewish themes, reducing the Jewish
Museum to a wing of the building.
After Blumenthal was hired to
direct the museum, the museum
gained administrative autonomy to
determine the content of its exhibi-
tions without interference from city
officials.
Blumenthal, who was born near
Berlin, said the museum would focus
on the Holocaust and German Jewish
history, particularly in Berlin.
Assistant Director Tom Freudenheim
said the main exhibition will depict

the history of Jews in Germany from
Roman times to the present. It will
highlight relations between German
Jews and non-Jews, the assimilation
and integration of German Jews, the
role and influence of Jewish citizens in
Germany, anti-Semitism, Nazi perse-
cution, the Holocaust and contempo-
rary Jewish life.
In addition, there will be temporary
exhibitions displaying Jewish art, his-
tory and culture.
Critics say the museum does not
own enough objects to begin to fill its
large exhibition space. And members
of Berlin's Jewish community, who
fought to keep the building as a
Jewish museum when its future was
uncertain, say they have not been ade-
quately informed about current plans.
"There has been no contact with us
until now about the concept of the
museum," said Julius Schoeps, a mem-
ber of the community and the director
of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for
Jewish Studies at the University of
Potsdam. Hermann Simon, director of
Berlin's Centrum Judaicum, an archive
and exhibition hall, says he also has
not been informed of museum plans.
Still, he said he assumed the insti-
tutions would continue to cooperate
on certain exhibitions, especially those
on Berlin Jewish history. The
Mendelssohn Center and Centrum
Judaicum have jointly presented sever-
al exhibitions in past years while the
new Jewish Museum space was being
completed.
The new museum does not yet
have adequate financing, officials say.
Blumenthal estimates that its annu-
al operating costs will be about $11
million.
In a recent interview, Libeskind
admitted it will not be easy for cura-
tors to work with the unusual jagged
spaces he has created. "To tell the
story with appropriate objects in an
adequate manner will be the task of
gifted curators," he said.

— Deidre Berger
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Detroit Jewish News

81