Ehemalige Synagoge Rexingen e.V.

On November 8, 1938, carpenter Georg Elser attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller. He knew that Hitler would give a speech there on the anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Elser was able to get access to the event venue. For nights on end, he installed an explosive device there. As Hitler, contrary to expectations, left the hall shortly before the explosion, he survived the assassination attempt.

The same evening, Georg Elser was arrested in Konstanz. He confessed after long hours of interrogation. For five years, Elser was kept in total isolation in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On April 9, 1945, only weeks before Nazi Germany‘s surrender, Elser was shot dead in Dachau concentration camp. After 1945, legends and lies distorted the view on Georg Elser. His image only started to change when his Gestapo interrogation minutes were released in 1970.

The exhibition "'Ich habe den Krieg verhindern wollen' – Georg Elser und das Attentat vom 8. November 1939" (“I Wanted to Prevent War – Georg Elser and the November 8, 1939 Bürgerbräukeller Bombing”) was created by the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/home/) in Berlin and the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg State Agency for Political Education https://www.gedenkstaetten-bw.de/ausstellung_elser.html). It has been traveling all over Germany for the past years.

The exhibition opening is on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at 4 pm on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Mr. Josef Seibold from the Georg Elser Gedenkstätte Königsbronn (Königsbronn Georg Elser Memorial Site https://www.georg-elser-gedenkstaette.de/) will give an introduction to the exhibition.

 Organizers: Former Rexingen Synagogue Association and Kreisvolkshochschule Freudenstadt (Freudenstadt District Adult Education Center https://www.vhs-kreisfds.de/)

With his book “Die Kunst des Betens” (“The Art of Prayer” http://morascha.ch/produkt/die-kunst-des-betens-spiritueller-leitfaden-zum-juedischen-gebetbuch/), Gabriel Strenger provides a German-speaking audience an insight into the prayer of traditional Jews.

The book is a spiritual guideline for praying and draws upon the breadth and depth of Rabbinical sources—Bible, Talmud, Kabbalah, and Chassidism. The book addresses both the structures of prayers as well as the nuances of the Hebrew language.

In the workshop, Gabriel Strenger will impart the theory and practice of Jewish prayer.

Program with lecture and song:

1. Prayer and meditation
2. Structure of Jewish liturgy
3. Aims of praying
4. Healing the world and the self
5. Nearness to God
6. Integration, becoming whole

Participation / Registration

 Participation in the workshop is for free.

 In order to better plan the evening, we kindly ask for your registration via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In cooperation with the Stuttgarter Lehrhaus - Stiftung für interreligiösen Dialog (Stuttgart School Foundation for Interreligios Dialog http://www.stuttgarter-lehrhaus.de) and the Katholische Erwachsenbildung Kreis Freudenstadt (Freudenstadt District Catholic Adult Education).

Why Anti-Semitism Is a Threat to All of Us: How New Media Fuels Old Conspiracy Myths

On Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 7.30pm, Dr. Michael Blume, Beauftragter der Landesregierung Baden-Württemberg gegen Antisemitismus (Commissioner against Anti-Semitism, State Government of Baden-Württemberg) will give a talk about anti-Semitism and conspiracy myths in the Jewish Prayer Room Museum Horb.

He himself says, “I claim that we do not need any pseudo-genetics or conspiracy myths to understand Semitism and anti-Semitism. Rather, we are dealing with the still underrated effect of media … According to Jewish tradition, Sem, the son of Noah, founded the ‘Semitic’ book religion tradition from which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam developed. There have been many counter-theories against the world-changing power of book religions. The rise of media such as book printing, radio, film, internet, and social media has likewise given rise to anti-Semitism as an enormous countermovement which is able to shatter the bases of our modern and democratic society. Some democratic constitutional states have already relapsed into populist autocracies. The media struggle for the future of mankind and the role of religions has thus only begun.”

Dr. Michael Blume (born 1976 in Filderstadt) studied Religious Studies and Political Sciences in Tübingen and earned a PhD on religion and brain research. Since 2003 he has been working for the Baden-Württemberg State Ministry. From March 2015 to July 2016 he headed the project group “special contignent of women and children from northern Iraq particularly in need of protection.” Since 2018, he has been the State Government of Baden-Württemberg’s commissioner against anti-Semitisim. Moreover, he is head of the division “non-Christian religions, values, minorities, project northern Iraq.”

The talk is a cooperation with Rural District Freudenstadt Catholic Adult Education.

On October 9, 2019, the Theater Lindenhof (https://www.theater-lindenhof.de/) will perform its play “Chaim & Adolf: Eine Begegnung im Gasthaus” (Chaim & Adolf: A Meeting in a Tavern) in the Rexingen sports club. This play is not performed in theaters but in taverns. The stage directions say, “There have to be 1 sausage salad, 4 beers, and 1 wheat beer as well as additional glasses.” This should not be a problem in the Rexingen clubhouse; the theatergoers can look forward to food and service as well.

 “Chaim & Adolf” is a chamber drama with a double bottom, a play full of wit, verve, and depth. Chaim Eisenberg, an Israeli with German roots, annually returns to the same Swabian village, the same tavern in order to go hiking. He is lacking something in this countryside idyll, though: a suitable chess partner. Bu the tavern keeper knows someone: Adolf, a farmer. Hesitant at first because of Adolf’s name, Chaim eventually does get involved in a chess game. It turns out that Adolf is an intelligent, quick-witted, and humorous partner. While playing, a conversation about their personal family histories unfolds. Is there more that connects the two than just their love for chess?

Wednesday, Oktober 9, 2019, 8:00 pm

ASV Rexingen clubhouse

Fohlengarten 1, 72160 Horb-Rexingen, GERMANY

Admission: 10 Euros

Advance ticket sales:

Buchhandlung Kohler, Horb

Metztgerei Kohler, Rexingen

Jean Améry, born as Hans Meyer in Vienna in October 1912, was one of the most important European intellectuals of the 1960s and 1970s. A philosopher and author, he dealt vividly with his experience in Nazi Concentration Camps in his collection of essays entitled Beyond Guilt and Atonement, an indispensable work in German literature on the Holocaust. All five essays, including "How much Heimat does one need?",  are still highly relevant today.