The Mendelssohns in Jägerstraße

In mehreren Stationen erinnert die Ausstellung an die spannungsvolle Geschichte der Mendelssohn-Bank und an das Leben der Mendelssohn-Bankiers, die bis 1917 in den Bankhäusern oder in angrenzenden Palais wohnten.

Blick in die Dauerausstellung der Mendelssohn Remise – Blick in die Dauerausstellung der Mendelssohn Remise © Manfred Claudi

The permanent exhibition "The Mendelssohns in Jägerstraße", conceived for the 18. The permanent exhibition "The Mendelssohns in Jägerstraße", conceived for the 18th Jewish Culture Days 2004, will be shown in the later remise of the Mendelssohn Bank, which was built around 1890 as a cashier's hall. This is the house in whose side wing the eldest sons of the philosopher and merchant Moses Mendelssohn, Joseph and Abraham Mendelssohn, established the Mendelssohn banking house in 1815, which was founded in 1795. The eastern section of Jägerstrasse, where the Königliche Giro- und Lehnbank and the Preußische Seehandlung already existed at the time, is considered the nucleus of Berlin's banking district. From here, the bank developed under the descendants of Joseph Mendelssohn and Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy into Berlin's most important private bank - until its forced liquidation under the National Socialists.

In several stations, the exhibition recalls the exciting history of the bank and the lives of the Mendelssohn bankers, who lived in the bank buildings or in adjacent palaces until 1917. The patronage of the Mendelssohns, to whom Berlin museums owe important works of art, is presented, as are the charitable efforts of the family. The impressive network of relationships, business partnerships and friendships established in Jägerstrasse, which included representatives of business, science, music and the fine arts, is also presented. The natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt, the sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch, the composers and musicians Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim, as well as the historian Leopold von Ranke came and went here as customers as well as trusted guests.

The exhibition also focuses on the forced liquidation of the Mendelssohn Bank by the National Socialists and the efforts made in the post-war period to rescue one of the most important German families from oblivion. The founding of the Mendelssohn Society in 1967 and the establishment of the Jägerstrasse History Forum Association in 2005, which has since merged with the Mendelssohn Society, are among these.

In the anteroom of the Remise, the exhibition is supplemented by a media station where visitors can listen to interviews with descendants as well as compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel and Arnold Mendelssohn. The digital family tree of the Mendelssohn family spanning seven generations, produced by the Berlin State Library in 2007, can also be viewed there, as well as a DVD documentation of the staged premiere of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's first Singspiel fragment, recorded on the occasion of the Berlin meeting of Moses Mendelssohn's descendants in October 2007 in the Mendelssohn Remise.

Runtime: from January 2006

Price info: Unfortunately, it is not possible to visit the exhibition "The Mendelssohns in Jägerstraße" during events.

Takes place here:

• Mendelssohn-Remise