The cultural scientist Bernhard Purin is dead. The director of the Jewish Museum in Munich died unexpectedly, according to an obituary published by the city of Munich for the 60-year-old native Austrian. Purin was valued worldwide as an expert on Judaica and also had a strong influence on the international network of Jewish museums.
“We will miss his incorruptible judgment and humor, his loyalty and friendship, his integrity, his deep knowledge and his unusual and surprising approaches to the world of Jewish object history,” it says. Purin was born in Bregenz in 1963. According to the statement, after his studies he worked on setting up the Jewish Museum in Hohenems, Austria, and later at the Jewish Museums in Vienna and Fürth.
In 2002 he became founding director of the museum in Munich, which opened in 2007. He was also involved in projects such as the memorial site for the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack. “With him, Munich has lost an important representative of Jewish culture,” said Beatrix Burkhardt, cultural policy spokeswoman for the CSU and Free Voters faction in the Munich city council .
With many exhibitions he told the history of Munich’s Jews and made it understandable and tangible for all generations without being didactic. “He was not a loud person, but in his quiet and thoughtful manner he was all the more clearly audible in his efforts to make Jewish history clear.”