Berlin/Jerusalem. Schocken’s Gardens
An Exhibition at the Dubnow Institute
This exhibition focuses on a precarious aspect of the period when Jews were fleeing or emigrating from Germany after the Nazi assumption of power in 1933. From 1936 to 1940, the Schocken family created a huge, walled garden in Jerusalem, which stood as a marked counterweight both to the disruptive force and the annihilation then reigning in Europe. This is an exceptional, not a representative story.
Beginning with a store in Zwickau, Salman Schocken (1877–1959) and his brother Simon (1874–1929) built one of the most modern department store chains in the Weimar Republic. His success enabled Salman Schocken to patronize various artistic, cultural, and social projects. Following Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor in 1933, Schocken and his wife Lili (1889–1958) decided to leave Germany together with their children; his department stores were sold way below market value in late 1938.
The 1933 Ha’avara Agreement enabled German Jews to transfer at least some of their savings by emigrating to Palestine: Construction materials and other goods could be exported in exchange for financial transfers to an escrow account. Whoever paid into such an account would receive the equivalent value in local currency upon arrival in the mandatory territory; the emigrants needed this money to survive. The house, garden, and library designed for Schocken in Jerusalem by Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953) were products of these circumstances.
The archive held in the Schocken Library documents the family’s situation in light of disenfranchisement in Germany and a forced new beginning in Palestine. It underlines the special significance that Lili and Salman Schocken invested in their garden in Jerusalem during these years.
The garden contained both familiar plants and new, imported plants that were forced to adapt. As such, it can be viewed as an emblem of migration. At the same time, it had a long intellectual history rooted in ideas about the creation of a proper order. Schocken’s garden thus became a malleable counterplace.
Given the events then unfolding in Europe and Palestine, the design and construction project in Jerusalem appears surreal. Yet the garden temporarily became a living counterweight to a time of uncertainty, overload, and destruction.
Opening:
Monday, 12 October 2026, 5 p.m.; registration required
Guided Tour with the Curator, Dr. Caroline Jessen
Thursday, 5 November 2026, 2 p.m.
Further Guided Tours
Visitors will be able to view the exhibition as part of public guided tours. The first dates for these will be announced shortly.
Groups can book guided tours by arrangement.
The exhibition will be on display at the Institute until autumn 2028.
Contact for guided tour enquiries
Dr. Julia Roos
Email: roos(at)dubnow.de
Telefon: +49 341 21 735 753
Opening: Monday, 12 October 2026, 5 p.m.
Dubnow Institute, Leipzig
This exhibition emerged through a collaboration between the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow, the JTS Schocken Institute for Jewish Research in Jerusalem, and the Schocken family. It was made possible by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture, and Tourism through funding for the project »‘A Company and an Idea.’ Salman Schocken’s Universe in the Jerusalem Archive.« This research project based at the Dubnow Institute examines the Schocken Archive in Jerusalem as a transnational repository of knowledge on Jewish history and culture.