9th Mainz SchUM Cultural Days 2026: Experience Jewish Culture
More than 40 events from September 6 through the end of November
The 9th Mainz SchUM Cultural Days, taking place from September 6 to November 29, 2026, invite visitors to discover Jewish culture and history in all its diversity. More than 40 events at various locations throughout the city will demonstrate that SchUM is much more than just the medieval synagogues, mikvahs, and Talmud schools in Mainz, Worms, and Speyer. The program features concerts, lectures, guided tours, language courses, discussion evenings, and commemorative events.
Kickoff at the New Synagogue and Judensand
To kick off the festivities, the Jewish Community and the City of Mainz invite you to the New Synagogue on September 6. The open house will feature guided tours, a concert, and Jewish specialties. At 5 p.m., Deputy Mayor Ludwig Holle and Anna Kischner, Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Mainz, will officially open the SchUM Cultural Days. The LIV Quartet will provide musical accompaniment for the opening ceremony.
Also on September 6, the new Sali-Levi-Haus visitor center will open with a community festival at the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Old Jewish Cemetery.” The newly fenced-in cemetery will thus be open to the public. Free guided tours, music, theater, food and drinks, as well as a children’s workshop at the SchUMobil, will offer a varied program for the whole family on this festive day.
Conversations, Music, and History
Among the highlights of the SchUM Cultural Days program are the “Mainz Synagogue Talks” with Rabbi Aharon Ran Vernikovsky. Actor and musician Daniel Donskoy will be a guest on September 7, and writer and journalist Navid Kermani on October 29. The focus will be on current issues in society and Judaism.
In October, the 100th anniversary of the memorial cemetery at Judensand will also be commemorated with a lecture and a study day. At the same time, 2026 will mark the fifth anniversary of the inclusion of the Jewish SchUM sites in Mainz, Worms, and Speyer on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
On September 15, actor Roman Knižka and the OPUS 45 quartet will perform at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory with the musical reading “Ich wand’re durch Theresienstadt” (“I Wander Through Theresienstadt”). As part of this event, eyewitness Edith Berbrich will also share her personal life story from the Theresienstadt assembly and transit camp.
Commemoration and Musical Rediscovery
On November 9, the official commemoration ceremony will take place at the New Synagogue to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht in 1938. A musical highlight will follow on November 15 with a concert honoring the Jewish composer Hans Gál (1890–1987). Gál served as director of the Mainz Conservatory from 1929 to 1933; he was dismissed from his post by the Nazis and later forced into exile. With this concert, his works are receiving a well-deserved rediscovery.
The complete program for the 9th Mainz SchUM Cultural Days, including all dates and venues, is available online at mainz.de/juedischekulturtage (opens in a new tab) as well as on the websites of the cities of Worms, Speyer, and SchUM Städte e.V. at schumstaedte.de/schum/schum-kulturtage/ (opens in a new tab)
Background information on the World Heritage Site and the new visitor center can be found at judensand-mainz.de (opens in a new tab).
The idea of joint Jewish cultural days for the three SchUM cities has evolved over the years: Worms got the ball rolling in 2005 with its “Cultural Days,” and Mainz joined in 2018 with its “Jewish Cultural Days.” Since 2020, Speyer has also been participating with its own program. Today, all three cities present their own programs under the shared name “SchUM Cultural Days,” bringing Jewish culture—both past and present—to life.
SchUM – An Important Jewish Heritage
As early as the 10th century, the Jewish communities in Speyer, Worms, and Mainz began to flourish. They were known as the SchUM communities, named after the first Hebrew letters of their city names. Their scholars and communities had a lasting impact on the development of Ashkenazi Judaism in Europe. The architecture and design of synagogues and ritual baths, as well as the Jewish burial traditions of the SchUM cities, set the standard for Central and Eastern European Judaism.
SchUM also exerted a formative influence in religious and spiritual terms. Scholars from the three communities developed and passed down liturgical chants, prayers, and religious traditions that remain significant to Jews worldwide to this day. On July 27, 2021, the SchUM sites in Speyer, Worms, and Mainz were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. They thus represent a unique Jewish heritage of European and international significance.