Obermayer German Jewish History Award

Fritz Reuter

Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate

Fritz Reuter established the first post-World War II Jewish museum in Germany, helped restore the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and rehabilitated a synagogue that represents one of the most flourishing Jewish communities of the Middle Ages.

"What for me was the most important thing," however, he says, "was the book 'Warmaisa' because it's gotten so many people interested. We wanted to end that sense of foreignness people feel toward the Jewish religion, Jewish life, Jewish buildings-we wanted to show them it's possible [for Christians and Jews] to live with one another."

Worms was a thriving, pivotal center of Jewish life and culture in medieval Europe. And in his half century of work, Reuter has rediscovered and largely succeeded in rehabilitating that memory. Not only is Warmaisa: 1,000 Jahren Juden in Worms (1,000 Years of Jews in Worms) the first, and still perhaps the most thorough history about the rich Jewish legacy in Worms, in 1995 Reuter also co-founded the organization Warmaisa (which means Worms in Hebrew), dedicated to publicly preserving that heritage. And as former Director of City Archives, he led tours, published books and articles, and was the human face behind Worms' revitalized Judengasse, or Jewish quarter, which today stands as one of the lead attractions for visitors to old Jewish Europe.

In the words of Worms-born Gerhard Spies, who emigrated to Mamoroneck, New York, Reuter "never tired when it came to finding the resources to recreate the Jewish soul of Worms and give it eternal life. He believed it was imperative to educate the post-war population of Germany about the rich heritage in art, architecture, philosophy, and history that the Jews left behind."

Reuter, 78, would be the first to admit his job was no easy one, nor was the road straight in getting there. The son of an industrial chemical salesman, Reuter originally studied music with the hope of becoming a concert bassoonist or contrabass player. While working for nearly a decade as a printer, he studied nights in Mannheim and earned his Abitur (the equivalent of a high school degree) at the late age of 28, after which he studied German history at Mainz University. It was only in his 30s when he took a job as an archivist in Worms that Reuter "saw what meaning the Jewish community had on the development of the city, from medieval to modern times," and engaged himself in recuperating-in a basic sense, retelling-that history. "We're trying to awaken the consciousness of Worms citizens, so they realize what the Jews did here," he says.

Starting in 1961 after completion of the rebuilding of the Worms's medieval synagogue, which was burned on Kristallnacht, Reuter has played an instrumental role bringing this one-time center of Jewish culture in Europe back to life. In the following decade he helped research and restore the thousand-year-old Heiliger Sand (Holy Sands) cemetery.Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was the 1982 founding of the town's Jewish museum known as the Rashi House-named after the 11th century Talmudic scholar who studied in Worms-on the grounds of the former Jewish community's dance hall. Having tracked down hundreds of old objects and artifacts (from plates to menorahs to Torah scrolls) and recreated educational models of Seder and wedding scenes, Reuter's work stimulated a new era of discussion in the community.

"Awakening the curiosity in young people for Jewish culture is one of [Reuter's] remarkable accomplishments," says Marga Dieter, originally from Worms and a resident of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Indeed, Reuter recalls, "It was hard at the beginning when visitors came to Worms looking for Jewish sites and didn't know where to find them. And for a lot of local people it was still something foreign, it was barely known-they were simply not interested." He says, "Now they show a great interest. Now they come and ask questions. I know a lot of people who are thankful for the work we started."

One of those people is Bill Clinton, who as the then-governor of Arkansas. He visited the Rashi House in 1987 and talked with Reuter for an hour on subjects ranging from Jewish business history in Worms to stories about the Judengasse. He was also honored by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey on behalf of the U.S. Senate.

Reuter's research into the lives of Worms' Jews killed in the Holocaust has given rise to memorial tablets and some 40 Stolpersteine, or Stumbling Stones, created in their names.Reuter enjoyed the dedicated support of his wife Paule, who was not only his life-long companion but worked alongside him building the museum and leading Jewish tours until she passed away in 1999. His daughter, Ursula, is carrying on the tradition with a PhD in history and a specialty in Jewish studies.

Having himself once been a member of the Jungvolk (Young People) and the Hitler Youth, Reuter's work rescuing the Jewish memory of Worms offers living proof of ways individual can try to reconcile with -and move beyond-the hard truths of the past. Now, his greatest wish is to see Jewish life take root once more in Worms (where some 120 to 150 Jews live today) the way it's starting to in nearby cities like Mainz, Mannheim and Heidelberg.

"I hope the museum can grow and that a Jewish community begins here again," he says. "Only with a living new community can we guarantee that Worms will be a Jewish city, not just a Jewish museum. That's my hope."