Pioneering Jewish academy opens in Germany

Germany’s first Jewish academy has opened in Frankfurt, aiming to counter antisemitism and encourage dialogue and learning across the country. Its founders say it will also help make contemporary Jewish life more visible and challenge the idea that Jews share one way of thinking.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany established the academy, which draws on the tradition of Frankfurt’s Jewish Lehrhaus, founded in 1920 and closed by the Nazis in 1938. The centre brings together a 110-year-old villa and a four-storey modern building, and will host work on religious philosophy, ethics, interfaith dialogue and current debates. At its opening, Council president Josef Schuster described Jewish life in Germany as under greater threat than at any time since the Shoah.