‘Jewish Life in the Grindel Quarter’ Mural

Since 9 November 1995, there has been a large mural on the side of the building that houses the Department of Socioeconomics of the University of Hamburg. It was painted by the Argentinian artist Cecilia Herrero (born 1960) with the help of a group of students. The mural shows flourishing Jewish life in the Grindel quarter, with its many shops, cultural institutions, schools and two synagogues, before the residents were persecuted by the National Socialists. Gaps between the individual elements of the mural reference the destruction of Jewish life by the Nazi regime.

The mural incorporates images of three posters from the Weimar era bearing the exhortation ‘Never again war’ and calling for the political opponents of National Socialism to unite. In the centre of the mural is a poem by the German-Swedish writer Nelly Sachs (1891-1970) emphasising the importance of remembrance.