MJH | JewishGen Talks: Süßkind Stern: One of the Earliest Known Portraits of a German Jew

Today, the portrait of Süßkind Stern, marked with the date 1671, is prominently displayed in Frankfurt’s Jüdisches Museum. The website of Frankfurt’s Jüdisches Museum indicates “Süßkind Stern who was highly respected in the Jewish community of the 17th century was also one of the Frank forefathers.” Süßkind Stern is an ancestor of both Anne Frank and Ralph Stern, who is the speaker for this webinar.

The historical and genealogical importance of the portrait is without question. However, for almost 300 years, the portrait was not in Frankfurt. How did the portrait survive the great Judengasse fire of 1711? How did the portrait survive the years of National Socialist rule? How did the portrait finally return to Frankfurt? The life of the portrait intersects many aspects of German-Jewish life. This talk will present the journey made be one of the earliest known oil portraits of a German Jew.

Professor Ralph Stern was born in Colorado and received his professional and academic education in the United States and Germany. Currently, he is Professor and former Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, and has taught in the United States and Europe, including the Technical University Berlin and the University of the Arts Berlin, where he was co-director of the Program for Urban Processes. He lectures extensively, presenting research in the United States at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, MIT, the University of Chicago, and at universities throughout Europe. He is completing a book entitled Architectures of Coincidence: More than a Family Memoir.

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