Israel's museum of German-Jewish heritage facing closure
The German-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum in northern Israel's Tefen Industrial Park exhibits objects belonging to German Jews who fled the Nazis. It could shut down because of a lack of funds.
The Tefen Industrial Park is located in northern Israel, a half-day trip from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. The last part of the journey is a winding drive up a narrow mountain road. Yet, every year, hundreds of people, including visitors from Germany, have made the journey to visit the German-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum, also known as the Jeckes Museum.
Exhibits include books by the German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the poet Heinrich Heine and the Czech writer Franz Kafka, as well as medals that German Jews had received as honors in World War I. The museum also features a corrugated iron hut inhabited at one point by the Schatzmann family, who came to Israel from Berlin in the 1930s, finding refuge in the coastal town of Nahariya.