Excerpt from "GEPPO - DER STADTBOTE" – Edition 03, Volume 5 – Wednesday, January 19, 2000
Treasures of the Göppingen Museums
Around 200 years ago, a blacksmith crafted a sign for the newly opened King David Inn of Jebenhausen. Today, the King David emblem stands as one of the most impressive pieces in the Jewish Museum, which is situated in the old church of Jebenhausen.
The Inn Signpost, Crafted in the Image of King David – an Impressive Witness to the Jewish Past
Whoever traveled to Jebenhausen at that time was sure to notice the signpost over the inn doors, which made the traveler aware from afar that he would be welcomed. The striking sign— a harp player, "King David," allowed the name of the inn to figuratively speak. The name was by all means intentionally chosen, for it reminds one indeed of the first king of a greater Israel, one of the most glorious figures of Old Israel. King David is still popular today, primarily through the saga that tells of his battle against Goliath the Giant, a parable for the conflict between unequal partners. In the 18th and 19th centuries King David was known as being a patron of singers and musicians. Along these perceptions of King David the figure of the Jebenhausen inn signpost took shape. The signpost was crafted with certainty by a local blacksmith. As usual at that time, it was cut out of sheet metal, riveted together and then painted.
Had the Jewish community not been persecuted and devastated in Nazi-Germany, then the King David would have been an inn signpost among others. Therefore this signpost is one of the few witnesses and at the same time the most apparent document of the Jewish past in the history of our city. Together with the Star of David— a general symbol of the Jewish faith, and the Jebenhausen King David the distinctive emblem of the Jewish Museum is formed.
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