The German-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum Archives

The archives at the German-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum at Tefen contain archived materials from families that immigrated to Land of Israel from Central European, German-speaking countries, which were donated by the family members themselves, their offspring, and other entities.
These artifacts—which include documents, certificates, letters, manuscripts, photographs, and other publications written in German, and occasionally in Sütterlin (old German handwriting) , as well as paintings and various items—encompass the personal, familial, and cultural heritage of these immigrants.
The family archives at the German-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum enable visitors to become acquainted with Jewish life and Jewish communities in their countries of origin and in their renewing homeland, Israel.
The archives bear testimony to the social, economic, and cultural changes that took place within this population over the years.
The archive collections are accessible to the general public and are at the disposal of the families and their offspring. Requests made by researchers from Israel and abroad are responded to on a per case basis, and materials that are relevant to the research topics are made available to such researchers.
The archives are currently preparing for a digitalization project during which all of the archived artifacts will be scanned, with the objective of improving internet access to the archives' treasures by researchers and the general public.

Donating material to the archives
If you possess any artifacts that document the community life of Jews in Central Europe and during the Aliyah and settlement of Eretz Yisrael period, our archivists will be delighted to receive your documents, photographs or other artifacts.
The archive collection includes original materials only.
The materials you possess might be worthy both of permanent archiving and of internet access. Please do not hesitate to contact us.