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Event-Details
Villa Seligmann
09.11.2025
17:00
Lecture and concert in memoriam
Lecture and concert in memory of Beny Maissner
Dr. Peter Schulze, Corinna Luedtke, Cantor Aviya Nachshon, North German Synagogal Choir, Minister Falko Mohrs
Description
Programm
Musikalische Einleitung | Norddeutscher Synagogalchor
Alfred Rose: Ma towu (Wie gut sind Deine Zelte, Jakob)
Ansprache | Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck, Villa Seligmann
Vortrag Dr. Peter Schulze | Teil 1: Die Neue Synagoge von 1870 als Ort von Gebet und Lehre
Musik | Kantor Aviya Nachshon und Norddeutscher Synagogalchor
Musik von Israel Alter
Memorial Benny Maissner | Corinna Luedtke, Lesung
Kel Male Rachamim (G’tt voller Erbarmen), Kantor Aviya Nachshon
Vortrag Dr. Peter Schulze | Teil 2: Die Zerstörung der Neuen Synagoge 1938
Schlusswort | Falko Mohrs, Niedersächsischer Kultur- und Wissenschaftsminister
Musikalischer Ausklang | Kantor Aviya Nachshon und Norddeutscher Synagogalchor
Alfred Rose: Al hakol
Vin d’honneur | Besuch der Ausstellung | Gedankenaustaustausch
Dr. Peter Schulze, Lecture
Corinna Luedtke, Lecture
Cantor Aviya Nachschon, singing
North German Synagogue Choir
Martin Lüssenhop, conductor and organ
It has been 87 years since the synagogues burned in Germany. An event that made the increasing disenfranchisement and persecution of Jewish citizens by the National Socialist regime visible to everyone and left a painful mark on our collective memory. This memory must be preserved – today more than ever.
This year, Villa Seligmann is once again commemorating the crimes of that time with a special event. The historian Dr. Peter Schulze and the writer Corinna Luedtke will be speaking. Music from the former New Synagogue in Hanover will be brought to life by Cantor Aviya Nachshon from Israel and the North German Synagogue Choir. Martin Lüssenhop will play the organ.
This year, we also remember a great friend of Villa Seligmann who passed away last July: Cantor Benjamin (Beny) Maissner (1944-2025) was not only the nephew of Israel Alter, the last head cantor of Hanover before the war, but also a living bridge in the history of remembrance. His maternal family came from Hanover and saved themselves from the Nazis in 1935. He was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2014 for his contribution to reconciliation.
Beny Maissner’s wife Hope and daughter Rivka from Canada will be present at the event.
A vin d’honneur will be served at the end of the program.
The event is part of the exhibition on the New Synagogue in Hanover (1870-1938).
To register, call 0511 844 887 200 or send an e-mail to: anmeldung@villa-seligmann.de
Admission to the Villa Seligmann is from 4.30 pm
The event is supported by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture.
Contributors
Aviya Nachshon is the main cantor in the renowned congregation “Kfar Shmaryahu” of Herzliya, Israel and a descendant of the great cantor Benjamin Ungar of the Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv and. He is a graduate of the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute, where he studied with cantors such as Naftali Hershtik sel. A. and his son Shraga Hershtik. He was also taught by the maestros Raymond Goldstein and Yotam Segal. Aviya Nachshon has prayed and sung in numerous congregations and at numerous events around the world. He was also a chazan (cantor) in Budapest. He is currently about to complete his master’s degree in electrical engineering and physics. Aviya Nachshon lives with his family in Israel.
Corinna Luedtke is a trained bookseller, author, project artist and painter. She is the winner of the competition organized by the city of Hamelin under the motto Jews in Germany – yesterday and today. From 2009 to 2011, she supervised the long-term project “Writing against forgetting” with pupils from the Albert Einstein School in Laatzen. Corinna Luedtke is a member of the Association of German Writers and the Kurt Hiller Society.
Dr. Peter Schulze studied social sciences and history in Hanover. With his research, publications and exhibitions on Hanover’s city history and the history of Jewish Hanover, he is one of the most important experts in the field.
The North German Synagogue Choir emerged from the original European Synagogue Choir. This was a semi-professional mixed choir based in Hanover, which was dedicated to the rehearsal and performance of sacred Jewish music. Since its foundation in 2009 by Prof. Andor Izsák and under his direction, the choir has given over one hundred highly acclaimed concerts in Germany and other European countries, focusing on works whose sheet music and recordings were destroyed and forgotten in many places during the Third Reich, especially during the Kristallnacht in November 1938.
Martin Lüssenhop has been the artistic director of the Oratorienchor Burgwedel e.V. since 2004. The trained school musician is an accomplished bass-baritone, freelance piano and singing teacher and organist. He also has many years of choral experience – including as a conductor and musical assistant in various choirs, including the North German Synagogue Choir.
We kindly point out that photos and videos will be taken during this event, which will be published on our website and/or social media channels and used for press work. By participating, visitors to this event agree to this.