Projects and events create opportunities for understanding and exchange (Update)
HTWK Leipzig is taking part in the state-wide ‘Tacheles’ theme year. Together with other institutions in Leipzig, the university is helping to shape the programme and is opening up spaces for understanding and exchange.
“HTWK Leipzig is a place of diversity and respectful coexistence. Through our participation in the state-wide ‘Tacheles’ theme year, we wish to honour Leipzig’s almost 800-year-old Jewish cultural history as a living part of our city’s identity. For us, the motto ‘Jewish – Saxon – Human’ means one thing above all: promoting dialogue and inviting people to engage with one another.
As HTWK Leipzig, we stand for a culture of observation and listening. “We are committed to an objective and respectful discourse that leaves no room for discrimination. Together, we want to show that peaceful coexistence thrives where we treat one another with acceptance and openness,” emphasises HTWK Rector Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jean-Alexander Müller.
Events and projects organised by HTWK Leipzig as part of the themed year
- 4 March – 8 April: Exhibition in the University Library: ‘United by a love of books. Jewish publishers in Leipzig 1815–1938’
- Summer term (from 22 April): Lecture series as part of the Studium Generale: “Jewish Life in Saxony and Beyond”
- 9 May, 2–4 pm:Science Mashup ‘Values, Faith, Religion’: Symposium (lectures and panel discussion) as part of the Long Night of Computer Games (Li 318)
- 17 June “Positionen” lecture (Architecture): Jewish Brno: People, Villas, Synagogues – A Culture of Remembrance
- 24 June “Positionen” lecture (Architecture): 25 Years of the Leipzig Jewish Memorial – Part 1: Urban Spaces, Remembrance and Commemoration; 8.00 pm – Part 2: Opening of the special exhibition at the Alte Nikolaischule, Leipzig Cultural Foundation
- Ongoing: Project, app and publication ‘Jewish Life in Leipzig 1933’ – a collaboration between HTWK Leipzig and, amongst others, the ‘Ariowitsch-Haus’ Cultural and Community Centre e.V.
- Since 2023:‘New Jewish Cemetery’project– Researchers from HTWK Leipzig are surveying the Jewish burial ground using ground-penetrating radar and developing plans for its redesign
(Updated regularly.)
Background
In 2026, 100 years after the founding of the first Saxon regional association of Jewish communities, the Free State of Saxony will mark a state-wide ‘Year of Jewish Culture’.
Under the title ‘Tacheles’ and the motto ‘Jewish – Saxon – Mentshlich”, projects, events and exhibitions will highlight the rich Jewish history and culture, as well as Jewish life in Saxony, their contribution to the state’s past and present, and also the losses suffered, making them visible and accessible to a wide public.
The aim of this themed year is to view and understand Jewish life, Jewish culture and history as an integral part of Saxon society and cultural landscape, as well as of local and regional history. (Source: tacheles.de)
‘Tacheles’ roughly means: to express one’s opinion to someone quite openly and frankly. The word derives from the West Yiddish word ‘takhles’ and roughly means ‘goal, purpose’.
Leipzig can look back on almost 800 years of Jewish cultural history, which is unique compared to other cities: Leipzig’s central location and the appeal of its trade fair ensured that Jewish traders from all over Europe were already coming to Leipzig as early as the 13th century. Today, the city is home to the largest Jewish community in eastern Germany after Berlin, with around 1,100 members. A close-knit and vibrant network comprising the Jewish community, the City of Leipzig, various institutions and civil society initiatives is dedicated to Jewish life in Leipzig through a variety of initiatives and projects. (Source: City of Leipzig)
The central project team for the Thematic Year is based at the State Museum of Archaeology in Chemnitz (smac), located in the former Schocken department store – a key site in Jewish-Saxon history.
The thematic year is sponsored by the Free State of Saxony under the leadership of the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWKT).
The Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony is supporting the Thematic Year through its funding programme ‘Jewish Life in Art and Culture’ and is backing art and cultural projects that will make Jewish life in Saxony publicly visible and tangible in 2026.
