Obermayer German Jewish History Award

Gerhard Jochem and Susanne Rieger

Nuremberg, Bavaria

More than 200 people visit Susanne Rieger and Gerhard Jochem in Nuremberg each day, but the couple never sees most of them. Still, together they make plans, assemble projects and occasionally exchange jokes.

Jochem and Rieger’s hospitality is extended through their bilingual RIJO website. It is a kind of meeting place, a platform for German-Jewish interaction that includes digital memorials, resources for learning about the Nazi era, and a wealth of history. Work on the site often determines the couple’s schedule in the evenings, on weekends and even during vacations. “I always call it my night shift,” Rieger says.

Jochem, 36, is a city archivist. Rieger works as a civil servant during the day; she demurs when asked her age. In recent years, the two have steadily researched the local history of Jews and other Nazi-era victims in Munich, Fuerth, Nuremberg and elsewhere in Bavaria. They have contributed material to various databases and worked on Jewish genealogical and historical projects with people throughout the world. Based on their contacts with survivors, they promote the commemoration of the past in their hometown, lobbying for memorials, inspiring films and organizing discussions. They also fought for reparations for forced laborers by cooperating with victims’ organizations and helping to put pressure on local businesses.

Many who contact Jochem and Rieger get extensive help. But they only catch a glimpse of their personalities. Michael Bernet, who was born in Nuremberg and now lives in New York, describes Jochem as a person with little tolerance for irrelevant social niceties but with a mix of dedication and irreverence. Fuerth native Willie Glaser, 82, has worked extensively with the couple on histories and compilations now posted to the Web site. “It is hard to single out a characteristic,” says the Canadian resident. “They are very devoted to the German-Jewish cause.”

Jochem and Rieger are clearly uneasy when attention is on them personally. They prefer to talk about their work on the RIJO site. In 1997, Jochem started contacting survivors from the Nazi era for a volume to memorialize Nuremberg-area victims. While conducting research, he uncovered more biographical material and developed more ideas than could be used in the final product. Impressed by Gerhard’s work, Susanne began gathering material, as well.

Eventually, the two decided that the best way to make the information available was to put it on the Internet. They had no official backing, but Rieger says there are advantages to tackling such a project. “We are independent, we can write what we want to and we have no deadlines,” she explains. The Web site does not use sophisticated design. But the substance is there—in the early histories of Jewish communities in Bavaria, in maps of the formerly Jewish sections of Cham and Nuremberg, in the addresses of federal and municipal archives catalogued for researchers, and in the personal experiences posted by survivors. Willie Glaser, for example, writes of his family’s life in Fuerth in the early 1940s. He also has detailed his experiences during World War II as a German-born soldier in the Polish army. “I always longed to make a written record of my memories,” he says. “Gerhard Jochem gave me this chance.”

In fact, the Web site—and the resources available through it—has had a profound impact on some visitors. Bernet considers it a way to experience again a place he remembers that no longer exists. “I am back in my home, my school and my synagogue,” he says. “I have made friends with family members who died 100 years ago, I walked the old streets (many of which I still remember), I hear the old sounds and I smell the old smells.”