The Core Participants in "Imprints and Artifacts"

Mr. Ott is a German Christian farmer who moved to Buttenhausen in 1946 and became interested in local Jewish history. Through his efforts and transcriptions, much of the history survives. Mr. Ott has also restored the headstones in the Jewish cemetery, carving and painting the effaced Hebrew characters even though he cannot read Hebrew. He also began and continues a correspondence with former Buttenhausen Jews who live all around the world.

Mr. and Mrs. Lindauer are American Jews who fled Germany in the 1930s and first met in America. Mr. Lindauer was born in Buttenhausen, and together Mr. and Mrs. Lindauer have worked with Mr. Ott to memorialize the former Jewish community of Buttenhausen and help the living understand the complexities of that past without neglecting the future.

Herbert Weippert is Director of the Landheim; Dietrich Sachs is Director of the Grafeneck Institution; Gunther Wruck is Director of the Grafeneck Memorial.

Roland Deigendesch is Director of the Stadtarchiv Münsingen and co-author of the book "Juden in Buttenhausen." Jürgen vom Grafen, a journalist residing in Münsingen, was active in fostering understanding among Jews and Christians.

Otmar Gotterbarm, as director of the Volkshochschule, organized a class held in the Bernheimer Realschule that included several Russian Jewish emigrants who became the first post-World War II Jewish students to study at the school. Christine Schmitt is a student from Arnsberg who came to Buttenhausen as a member of Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (Action Reconciliation Service for Peace) to help Mr. Ott in his work.

My first connection to Buttenhausen was initiated by Iso Wagner, a close friend and Director of the KunstSeminar formerly in Metzingen, now in Schwäbisch Hall.