Synagogue (Kassel)
As Synagogue Kassel in the history of several different prayer houses are Jewish community Kassel called.
History until 1830
Tradition describes the beginnings of a synagogue in the Middle Ages (1398) as a Jewish school . It was located in what was then Judengasse between Fuldaufer and Ahnaberg Monastery . The medieval Jewish cemetery was in the immediate vicinity. In 1754 a modern synagogue was built, but it had the shape of a residential building. In 1775 a plot of land was acquired for a new synagogue, and the architect Heinrich Christoph Jussow designed the building in 1781. However, the construction was never realized. Due to the dilapidated structure, the previous synagogue was closed in 1827 due to the risk of collapse. The only public prayer room, in the Jewish school (Israelitische Schulanstalt) , was much too small to accommodate the congregation. Therefore, the service was also held in private apartments.
New building planning
Because of this cramped situation, the council decided in 1828 to build a new synagogue. The property on the corner of Untere Königsstrasse and Bremerstrasse offered by the government was accepted as a building site. First of all, the master builder August Schuchardt was commissioned with the planning, and between 1830 and 1832 he created a number of drafts. As none of these drafts was accepted by the community, the head of the Kassel building authority Conrad Bromeis was commissioned with the planning. He presented his own draft in 1831, but it was not accepted. The proposal by the landgrave's court architect Julius Eugen Ruhl from 1834 did not meet with acceptance either.
Design by C. Bromeis (1833)
Designed by J. Ruhl (1834)
Designed by J. Ruhl (1834)
Designed by J. Ruhl (1834)
New building in 1839
Only a community member, the architect Albrecht Rosengarten , who had learned from Schuchardt, succeeded in creating a design that was accepted by the community. He planned a gallery basilica with a barrel vault. A vestibule was planned to the west, and the facade was flanked by two stair towers. The church was finally built on the property at Untere Königstraße 84 and inaugurated on August 8, 1839. The architectural style was subsequently a model for many other synagogues in German-speaking countries.
National Socialism and Destruction
On November 7, 1938, the synagogue was desecrated by the National Socialists as part of the November pogroms and parts of the interior furnishings and rituals on the forecourt were destroyed by arson. The Jewish-Orthodox community center at Grosse Rosenstrasse 22 was also devastated. On November 11, 1938, the city administration decided to demolish the synagogue. Today there is a memorial plaque on the synagogue with the inscription:
“The synagogue of the Kassel Jewish Community, which was completed in 1839 and to which 2301 members belonged in May 1933, stood here. Many had already fled when, on November 7, 1938, NSDAP activists broke into the synagogue and broke into the Torah shrine, setting fire to prayer rolls and cult objects. The city administration had the undamaged structure “removed” shortly afterwards in order to build a parking lot there. The community was smashed. "
Time after 1945
In the period after the end of National Socialism, the first Jewish services were held in a refugee camp (Hasenecke camp) and then from 1952/1953 in a newly furnished prayer room on Heubnerstrasse. As this became too small from the 1960s onwards, it was decided to build a new synagogue with a community center. Construction began in 1964 on a plot of land on Bremer Strasse. This was inaugurated on December 12, 1965. There was now room for 100 people in the community hall. Business and guest rooms were set up in the basement.
The old synagogue as a relief on the plaque
Memorial plaque to the destroyed synagogue
New Synagogue (2000)
In the 1990s, the synagogue became too small for the Jewish community in Kassel, which was growing rapidly, mainly due to immigration from Eastern Europe. Initially, a renovation and extension was planned. Because of problems with the state of the building and because of soil investigations which resulted in considerable drainage requirements, it was finally decided to demolish and rebuild. The execution was entrusted to the Frankfurt architect Alfred Jacoby . For the demolition and construction period, the community moved to an alternative quarter at Tischbeinstrasse 32.
The new synagogue was inaugurated on May 28, 2000. The facade is partially plastered white and partially has natural cedar paneling. Externally, a three-tier structure of the building is striking. The floor plan of the two largest rooms is identical to one another: a secular parish hall with stage equipment and dance floor for parties, celebrations and lectures below, above the church service room with different levels. The nine meter high east wall window is kept in shades of blue. A ribbon of windows in the curved ceiling is also in shades of blue and white.
The total cost of the construction of 5.4 million DM was financed by the Hessian state government, the city of Kassel, the North Hessian districts, the Evangelical Church, the Diocese of Fulda, the regional association of Jewish communities in Hesse and through private donations.
New synagogue in 2010, east side
New synagogue in 2010, view from the south
literature
- Thea Altaras : Synagogues in Hesse. What has happened since 1945? 1988.
- Helmut Eschwege: The synagogue in German history. Wiesbaden 1980.
- Jüdische Gemeinde Kassel (Ed.), Red .: Esther Haß: And they should make a sanctuary for me ... The new synagogue in Kassel . Kassel 2001, ISBN 3923461410
- Carol Herselle Krinsky: Europe's synagogues. Architecture, history and meaning. 1988, pp. 306-310.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums September 7, 1839
Web links
- Regional Council Kassel New Kassel Synagogue: State of Hesse campaigns for modern domicile for the Jewish community
- Alemannia-Judaica on the synagogue in Kassel
Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 11 ″ N , 9 ° 30 ′ 10 ″ E