The Arbeitskreis has been networking with other groups locally and regionally since it was founded in 1996.
Cooperation with Schools:
The Comprehensive School in Niederwalgern and the Ricarda Huch School in Giessen
The Comprehensive School in Niederwalgern has been involved in on-site learning at the synagogue from the very beginning. Teachers and students have worked together with us on several projects. Just to name a couple: they excavated the mikveh adjacent to the synagogue under the supervision of the Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege (Hessian State Department for Monument Protection) in 1996. A few years later, using pottery and glass shards collected during the excavation, they created a mosaic in the courtyard of the synagogue. Schoolclasses regularly come to the synagogue for on-site lessons. (For more information, please see Classes and
For a few years now, we have been working with the Ricarda Huch School in Giessen as they develop their school partnership with the Eldad High School in Netanya in Northern Israel. Students grades 10-12 from both countries participate in exchange programs, spending a week with German or Israeli host families and exploring selected topics in-depth. These topics grow out of the study of the Shoah (the Holocaust) and its history, but the focus is on the future and developing ethical awareness and character. During the week in Germany, the students always visit the synagogue in Roth. This rural synagogue provides an example of what occurred in small villages throughout Germany under the Nazis. The building bears physical witness to the development of our awareness of our own history: First the building was used for completely different purposes than its original intent as a place of worship. This reflected the repression of facts and an unwillingness to acknowledge history. Later we observe a conscious reappraisal of what happened and the establishment of a culture of remembering, which is reflected in the restoration of the building.
Now and then we also oversee special project days in the synagogue for groups from the school.
Collaborative Work
Hessische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung
(HLZ, Hessian State Center for Political Education)
The Monument Department at the HLZ oversees and promotes memorial work in the State of Hesse under the direction of Dr. Monika Hölscher in Wiesbaden.
Twice annually the HLZ holds memorial meetings at a one of the monuments in the state, organizing presentations about current memorial work and guided tours of the various memorial sites both for members of initiatives and those involved full-time at the sites. These meetings also provide a forum for those active in the field to meet, share their experiences, and exchange ideas for future work. Members of our Arbeitskreis, especially the managing board, regularly participate in these meetings.
Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Gedenkstätten- und Erinnerungsinitiativen zur NS-Zeit in Hessen
(LAG, All-State Cooperative for Memorial and Commemorative Initiatives related to the time of the Nazi Regime in Hessen)
Members of LAG include clubs and initiatives made up of volunteer workers as well as the directors of full-time memorial sites. LAG runs a website and the group has produced a traveling exhibition and a brochure. Members of LAG also meet at events organized by HLZ. The group is networked throughout Germany and is a forum for exchanging ideas on memorial work on a national level. The group is led by a council of representatives.
Jüdische Gemeinde Marburg and Gesellschaft für christliche-jüdische Zusammenarbeit Marburg
(The Jewish Community in Marburg and The Association for Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Marburg)
The Arbeitskreis has been in contact with the Jewish Community in Marburg from the very beginning. We want authentic Judaism as it is lived out in our midst today to inform our work and to be supported by what we do. Amnon Orbach, the chairperson of the Jewish Community, is a member of the Arbeitskreis and supports its work in various ways, especially at memorial activities.
Our collaborative work with the association for Christian-Jewish Cooperation is also very important to us. Together with their book club, we organize a book reading with the author in the synagogue annually.
Marburger Geschichtswerkstatt e.V.
(Marburg Historical Society)
We have been working closely with the Marburg Historical Society from the very beginning. One of their goals is to research the History of the Jewish Community in and around Marburg, as is evidenced by the plethora of publications they have published on this topic. The Society is a corporate member of our Arbeitskreis, and several individuals are members of both groups.
Förderkreis Synagoge in Vöhl e.V.
(Society for the Synagogue in Vöhl)
We have been working in close partnership with the Society in Vöhl for many years and completed various projects together. The dancing instructor Barbara Küpfer has offered courses on Israeli dances in both the Roth and the Vöhl synagogues after the summer holidays for many years now.
Other groups that we work with or are members of:
Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie e.V.
(Against Forgetting – For Democracy)
Förderverein des Fritz-Bauer-Instituts Frankfurt
(Fundraising Society for the Fritz Bauer Institute in Frankfurt)
Bündnis gegen Rechts Marburg
(Alliance against the Far-right in Marburg)
Region Marburger Land e.V.
(Society for the Development and Promotion of the Countryside around Marburg)
(Note from the Translator: The English translations carry no official weight.)