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Munich (dpa / lby) - How significant Jewish life was for the history of Bavaria, the Free State wants to shed light on with numerous events and projects.
The occasion is the nationwide commemorative year for 1700 years of Jewish life in Germany.
At the same time, they want to show that Jewish life belongs to the middle of society - and thus make a contribution against prejudice and anti-Semitism, said Bavaria's anti-Semitism commissioner Ludwig Spaenle on Friday in Munich.
The anniversary goes back to a document of the Roman emperor Constantine from the year 321 AD, in which Jews were given the opportunity to work in the city administration of Cologne.
This is considered to be the first evidence of Jewish life in what is now Germany.
For Bavaria, the first source dates from 981 from Regensburg.
However, one can assume that Jews would have settled here earlier, said Spaenle.
Today around 18,000 Jews live in Bavaria and there are 15 Jewish communities.
One of the numerous planned projects is the digitization of the archives of former Jewish communities in Bavaria.
The National Socialists had confiscated the documents in 1938, they survived the war unscathed and then came to Israel.
The annual meeting of the European Rabbinical Conference is planned for November in Munich.
Spaenle also wants to focus on the historical significance of rural Jewry, especially for the regions of Swabia and Franconia, where there used to be numerous communities.
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Knowledge about Judaism was an important aspect in combating hatred of Jews, said Spaenle.
Therefore a strategy paper is planned with examples for the educational work.
At the beginning of the commemorative year in Bavaria, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and the President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, will speak at a digital event next Tuesday (January 12).
Nationwide events and projects