Since June 2018, the fountain in the Jewish quarter, which has been rebuilt in a modern form, is commemorating people who lived as Jews in Hohenems or who came from one of the Jewish families here and made their way in the world.
Gernot Peter had the idea, which was strongly supported by the „Hohenems Cultural Circle“, and taken up by the municipality. Its creative implementation by Sandro Scherling has turned the fountain into a jewel that encourages both locals and visitors to reflect in a casual yet emphatic way.
The choice of names provides a representative cross-section, women and men of different professions and all social classes, different migration routes and life experiences. Some well-known names are missing, but for that you discover unknown people who stand for those who are otherwise all too easily forgotten, and about whose lives, unfortunately, we know so little.

Lazarus Levi

Lazarus Josef Levi (1743–1806), Court factor, was born on 17 November 1743 as the son of Josef Wolf Levi and Maria Koschel Moos in Hohenems. Already his father was successful as a merchant and Lazarus … ►

Julie Landauer

Julie Landauer (1829–1917), Pastry chef and Inn keeper was born on June 21, 1829 as the daughter of Joseph and Jeanette Landauer in Hohenems. Her parents ran the inn “Zur frohen Aussicht” and a bakery. … ►

Regina Ullmann

Regina Ullmann (1884–1961), Writer, was born on December 14, 1884 in St. Gallen and descended from a Hohenems family of doctors and rabbis. Her father, still born in Vorarlberg, after many years in the … ►

August Brentano

August Brentano (1828–1886), Bookseller, was born on December 23, 1828 in Hohenems in what is now Schweizer Straße 6. He came from a family of merchants who had lived in Hohenems for several … ►

Helene Schlesinger

Helene Schlesinger (1817–1879), Florist, was born on January 26, 1817 in Hohenems as the daughter of the synagogue servant and innkeeper Samuel Schlesinger and his wife Babette Abraham. Six of her nine … ►

Josef Rosenthal

Josef Rosenthal (1805–1862), Industrialist, was born on October 11, 1805, the son of Urban Veit Levi and his wife Sophie Ostheimer. Urban Levi was an embroiderer: as a middleman he imported cotton … ►

Rudolf Hirschfeld

Rudolf Hirschfeld (1877–1958), Greengrocer, was born on December 31, 1877 in Salzburg, the son of Theodor Hirschfeld and Hedwig Moser. After the death of his child and his first wife, Theodor Hirschfeld had … ►

Lucille Bernheimer

Lucille Bernheimer (Milner) (1888–1975), Social reformer and Civil rights activist, was born in St. Louis on June 9, 1888, the daughter of Marcus Bernheimer and Ella Hayman. Her grandfather Samuel … ►

Ely Jacques Kahn

Ely Jacques Kahn (1884–1972), Architect, was born in New York on June 1, 1884, the son of Jakob Kahn and Eugenie Maximilian. His father had emigrated from Hohenems to New York in 1871 and founded a … ►

Maier Burgauer

Maier (Benjamin) Burgauer (1781–1862), Salesman, was born in December 1781 in Hohenems as the son of Jeanette Moos and Benjamin Burgauer. His mother came from an old Hohenems merchant family … ►

Klara Löwenberg

Klara Löwenberg (1886–1941), Nurse, was born in Hohenems on April 22, 1886, the daughter of Josef Löwenberg and Betti Guggenheim. During the First World War she worked as a nurse in Innsbruck … ►

Samuel Menz

Samuel Menz (1800–1876), Innkeeper and Assistant Rabbi, was born in Hohenems on December 3, 1800, the son of Michael Moos and Babette Hauser. His family was poor and pious. His father ran a small … ►

Simon Steinach

Simon Steinach (1834–1904), Physician, was born on April 7, 1834 in Hohenems in what is now Schweizer Straße 9. His mother Therese Levi came from Bozen, his father Wilhelm Steinach was one of the first … ►

Minna Reichenbach

Minna Reichenbach (1828-?), Housewife, was born in Hohenems on January 1, 1828 as the daughter of Martin Löb Reichenbach and Babette Salomon. Her father worked as a poulterer and peddler. She was … ►

Wilhelm Schwarz

Wilhelm Schwarz (Wolf Levi), 1807–1892, Brewer, was born in Hohenems on March 9, 1807 as Wolf Levi. His mother Friederike Landauer came from Bavaria. His father Josef Abraham Schwarz worked as a peddler … ►

Josef Guggenheim

Josef Guggenheim (1790–1856), Servant, was born in Endingen on August 24, 1790, the son of Baruch Simon Guggenheim and Blume Gutmann in the Swiss canton of Aargau, one of the two so-called "Jewish … ►

Mina Weil

Mina Weil (1814–1900), Peddler, was born on December 16, 1814, the daughter of Leopold Weil and Judith Mayer in the Untergasse in Hohenems (today Radetzkystraße 30). Her father traded in … ►

Hans Elkan

Hans Elkan (1900–1944), Teacher, was born in Hohenems on March 22, 1900, the son of the last head of the Jewish community Theodor Elkan and his first wife Betti Menz. His mother died a few days … ►

Ferdinand Brettauer

Ferdinand Brettauer (1852 - ?), Banker, was born in Hohenems on October 11, 1852 as one of twelve children of Emanuel Brettauer and Elise Wolf. His father had worked together with his brothers as a red … ►

Frieda Nagelberg

Frieda Nagelberg (1889–1942), Assistant embroiderer, Housemaid, was born on November 30, 1889 in Stryi in Galicia - in what is now Ukraine. Her father Joel Nagelberg and her mother Scheindl Eisenstein … ►

Klara Egg

Klara Egg (1783-?), Maid, was born in June 1783, still under the name Kehl Levi, in Hohenems, as the daughter of Salomon Levi and Vögel Bollag. In 1814 she worked as a maid for the Brentano brothers … ►

Lucian Brunner

Lucian Brunner (1850–1914), Politician, Banker and Industrialist, was born in Hohenems on September 29, 1850, the son of Marco Brunner and Regina Brettauer. In 1883 he joined the banking house Jacob … ►

Further exemplary life stories can be found here on the Biographies page. ►