Hermann Simon

Hermann Simon (born 1949) is a German historian who was for 27 years director of the Foundation "New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum". Early life Hermann Simon was born in Berlin in 1949, the son of classical philologist and philosophy historian Marie Jalowicz-Simon and the Judaizers Heinrich Simon. Hermann Simon grew up in East Berlin. His family was a member of the Jewish Community East Berlin, but which was very small because of the Holocaust and emigration in the postwar years. He studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin History and Oriental Studies, followed by graduate studies in Prague. Career From 1975 to 1988 he worked at the Numismatic Collection of the National Museums in Berlin. In 1988 he was involved in the first exhibition about Jewish life that in East Berlin (in Ephraim Palais was shown). Since the establishment of the New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum in the same year he was its director. On 1 September 2015, he handed over the reins to his successor Anja Siegemund. In 2015 Simon was awarded the Order of Merit of Berlin.