Old Synagogue (Freiburg im Breisgau)

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Old synagogue, main portal, view from the west. Postcard, 1910
Location on the tree-lined square between the Jewish community center (left edge of the picture, in front) and the university building (right), view from the north-west. Postcard, used 1913

As Old Synagogue called Synagogue today place the Old Synagogue in Freiburg was built in 1869/70 and in the Kristallnacht destroyed 1938th During construction work for the redesign of the square in 2016, remains of the building's foundation were discovered, exposed and documented in several places before it was partially removed and filled in to build a symbolic water basin over it. The fountain , known as the Place of Remembrance , corresponds in size and location to the layout of the destroyed synagogue and was opened to the public in 2017. With regard to its conception and use, the memorial fountain is still the subject of controversy.

Predecessor synagogues

The medieval Jewish community probably had a synagogue as early as 1300. It was first mentioned in 1349. In that year almost all Freiburg Jews were murdered as part of the general persecution of Jews during the plague . The first Freiburg synagogue was located on Wasserstraße, where the members of the community lived next to the neighboring Weberstraße until then. A total of ten Jewish houses can be found in this area.

From around 1360 Jews lived in the city again, some of them in the old houses on Wasserstraße. In 1385 a synagogue on the southwest corner of Weberstrasse and Raustrasse was named; At that time there were 60 Jewish residents in Freiburg, including a Jewish schoolmaster. It is unclear how the so-called Judengasse (for the part of today's Universitätsstraße located between Bertholdstraße and Franziskanerplatz) stands at the beginning of the 18th century (1708) to the medieval settlement.

In 1401 the Freiburg city council decided "daz dekein Jude ze Friburg niemmerme sin sol". King Sigismund confirmed this decree in 1424 with the perpetual expulsion . After that, Jews were no longer allowed to live in Freiburg. Jews in Baden had been recognized as citizens since 1809 and their religion was tolerated as equal, but they were still denied local citizenship rights. They were also only allowed to live in communities in which Jews were already resident. According to a census in 1846, only twenty Jews lived in downtown Freiburg at the time. The Jews living in Freiburg only joined forces in 1864 to form the Israelite Religious Society and rented a prayer room . The community hired a cantor who was also a schochet and religion teacher. The prayer room was in what was then house no. 838 on Münsterplatz.

Construction and expansion

The Old Synagogue 1896
The old synagogue with the western portal extension, 1926
Interior with east-facing Torah shrine , Bima and Ner Tamid
Reading discovery 2016: Knauf of one of the two spiers made of
Portland cement that were removed in 1925

A few years later, the community acquired municipal land on what was then Rempartstrasse, since 1874 Werderstrasse, today the place of the old synagogue, for the construction of a new synagogue. In the autumn of 1869, construction of the synagogue began according to plans by the general school teacher Georg Jakob Schneider , who had already made a name for himself as the sole or significantly involved builder of the synagogues in the rural communities of Ihringen , Kippenheim , Müllheim , Rust and Schmieheim and who had made a name for himself in Freiburg took the synagogue built by Gottfried Semper in Dresden as a model. The fact that “the external appearance of a synagogue, according to the own understanding of contemporary Jewish architects, must also be assigned a political significance” applies in particular to the Freiburg synagogue; at the same time, with Schneider's election as synagogue architect, a “solidarity with (then) urban society” had been achieved, especially since he was already present in Freiburg through several public buildings. However, the city seems to have taken and maintained a critical stance with regard to the location of the synagogue, which became clear again in the context of the discussion about a necessary expansion in the 1920s. In terms of style and topography in the central square, the synagogue was noticeably set apart from the surrounding buildings and the Christian houses of worship in the city, also slightly elevated by a mound. In Moorish-Byzantine style built synagogue had left and right of the entrance portal minaret-like , the input risalit flanking towers. Romanesque style elements were those of circulating arc friesen and the semicircular tripartite windows with delicate columns visible. The tablets of the Law were enthroned above the gable of the entrance project and a German inscription was placed above the portal : “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” ( Isaiah 56, 7). The wall surfaces were plastered, only the frames of the windows and doors were made of sandstone, the exposed arches were made of bricks. The women's gallery was accessible through two side entrances and wooden staircases integrated in the main building. The structure, formed from a Greek cross as a floor plan, did not suggest that there was an inner three-aisle structure from the outside. The bima , the desk for the prayer leader, did not form the center of the room, as is traditionally the case, but, like the Torah shrine , stood on the eastern end of the head.

The inauguration of the synagogue building, which was built with financial help from the established Jewish community in Mannheim , took place on September 23, 1870 under the direction of the Breisach rabbi Moses Reiss . Among the guests were the heads of state and community authorities and the Protestant clergy. Next to the synagogue, a little to the east, stood the Jewish community hall, which the synagogue community had used as an administrative building since 1890. This also housed the rabbi's apartment and, since 1925, a prayer room for the Orthodox parishioners of the Freiburg unified parish. Not as planned on the north-west side, but on the south-west side of the parish hall, a “women's bath for the Israelite community” ( mikveh ) was built in 1922 according to plans by the Freiburg architect Arthur Levi .

The Old Synagogue: “almost lost” between the university and the theater. View from the southeast, postcard, used 1912

Again according to Arthur Levi's plans, the synagogue building on its western side was rebuilt in 1925/26 for fire protection reasons (expansion of the two narrow, wooden spiral staircases to the women's gallery) and the gallery was expanded by a few more spaces. The western side of the portal was given a large porch with which, in the opinion of the city administration, the building located between the new city ​​theater and the college building had "also been upgraded externally". The two knobs on the spiers were removed and not replaced; They no longer show photographs of the enlarged synagogue after 1926. One of them was found on the site during construction in July 2016. In the run-up to the planning and funding applications by the community, the city administration expressed that they wanted a more representative new synagogue "in terms of urban development" and would continue to do so after the 1926 extension. Hans Schadek sums up this: "The synagogue, which was modest even after the expansion in 1925, has stood almost lost between them since the city theater, university building and Rotteck grammar school were built".

destruction

On July 10, 1934, there was a fire in the main university building, which was extinguished in front of the eyes of many onlookers and the Freiburg mayor Franz Kerber rushing to the scene of the fire by a large-scale deployment of the Freiburg fire brigade , with the police , SA and SS men and the voluntary labor service were on duty. The fire, which had spread from the roof structure to the northern wing of the building in a short time, did not spread to the closely adjacent synagogue.

Four years later, in the Reichspogromnacht on 9/10 November 1938 , men of the local SS and SA under the direction of the leader of the 65th SS Standard Black Forest in Freiburg Walter Gunst , the Freiburg SS doctor Eduard Krebsbach and the SA brigade leader Joachim Weist set fire to the synagogue at around 3 a.m. The telephone order to the Freiburg SS that night was likely to have come from SS-Section Leadership XXIX, Constance, SS-Oberführer Walter Stein , or from SS-Oberabschnittsführung Südwest, Stuttgart, SS-Gruppenführer Kurt Kaul , to whom the SS- Standarte 65 and Walter Gunst were organizationally subordinate. Gunst had petrol obtained, slammed the door to the building and, with his helpers, emptied the canisters in the synagogue while the Gestapo searched the basement for documents. When the fire broke out between three and four in the morning, there was a verbal argument between the Gestapo people and the SS and SA men who set fire to them. They had Rabbi Siegfried Scheuermann, Cantor David Ziegler and the chairman of the Synagogue Council, Löb David Maier, taken out of their beds and forced them to watch the synagogue fire. Rabbi Scheuermann was also taken to the nearby fountain on Bertoldstrasse in front of onlookers, and her head was pushed under water there, according to journalist and contemporary witness Käthe Vordtriede in her memories of the Freiburg Pogrom Night.

The incoming fire brigade was not allowed to extinguish the synagogue fire, but was only supposed to prevent the fire from spreading to the nearby university building. According to the account of the then law student and NSDAP party member Wolf Middendorff (1916–1999), who passed the synagogue ruin, which had been cordoned off by SS members on the late morning of November 10, 1938, SS officers were supposed to die at night on the way to the university "Detective officers" accompanying the fire brigade have caused them to leave the scene of the fire so that they could not investigate: "The officer recognized an SS doctor and police doctor among the people at the scene of the fire, as well as the SS-Standartenführer responsible for Freiburg." Another According to Middendorff, a member of the criminal police came to the scene of the fire between five and six o'clock and observed how the fire brigade limited itself to protecting the neighboring buildings. He had also been chased away by the SS and then reported to the Freiburg public prosecutor. When they reported the arson to the public prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, they said the fire in the Freiburg synagogue was "no news, synagogues are burning all over Germany". A law enforcement was not necessary to omit or; the whole thing is a "political matter." Middendorff, who gave no sources for these representations, relied on statements by the police officers, firefighters and the Freiburg Chief Public Prosecutor Eugen Weiss, who made them for the investigations in 1946 before the Freiburg Regional Court but there is no third party confirmation.

Gunst sent members of the SS to deliberately take male and adult Jews into “ protective custody ”. Most of the community members were arrested in the early hours of the morning by the Gestapo with the help of the SA and first taken to the granary and later to the Freiburg prison , from where 99 Jewish men from the Freiburg city district and another 38 from the Freiburg area went to the Dachau concentration camp were deported.

On November 10, 1938, the SS pioneer storm began, including SS-Untersturmführer , civil engineer and town planning inspector Wilhelm Kunzmann from the civil engineering department, with the demolition of the fire ruins. The demolition of parts of the surrounding walls began immediately, while much of the synagogue as well as the foundation walls existing in the ground remained on the area; According to Käthe Vordtriede, other synagogue rubble was used as bulk material in a widening measure on Schönbergstrasse in Freiburg-Haslach in 1939 , including the stone Mosis law tablets from the main portal that she saw lying in the ditch. Not only the synagogue building, but also large parts of the written records of the community stored in the cellar, among other things, were destroyed during the pogrom night. The oak winged door of the western portal extension, the painted top of the Torah shrine - two striding lions of Judah holding the Decalogue tablets crowned by a Star of David - and the chandelier, which in 1987 moved to the New Synagogue on the corner of Nussmann, were preserved and preserved from destruction in 1938 - / Engelstrasse, were integrated.

The wing door of the west portal with the top of the old Torah shrine, which was saved from destruction in 1938; today the entrance door of the prayer room of the New Synagogue in Freiburg.

"Aryanization", development plans and "reparation"

Synagogenplatz and the devastated Jewish community building, which was repaired at the expense of the Jewish community and served as a prayer hall and Jewish school from April 1939 until the Wagner-Bürckel campaign on October 22, 1940, were forcibly "Aryanized" in March 1939 and passed into the property of the city of Freiburg by means of a purchase contract with the Upper Council of the Israelites of Baden , Karlsruhe. This had 67,000 Reichsmarks, minus 5,602 Reichsmark costs for the rubble removal, which were billed to the Israelite community, transferred to a blocked account of the Deutsche Bank . The Jewish community received a conditional right of use for the parish hall in return for payment of rent. Research into the aforementioned blocked account has so far not provided any clarification as to its whereabouts. On behalf of the city of Freiburg, the historian Julia Wolrab was entrusted with research on the history of the Old Synagogue from a property law perspective in 2019, which was published in October 2019. In connection with the "Aryanization" in 1939 and the reparation agreement of 1948, Wolrab was able to develop previously unknown documents, the analysis of which in some cases yielded new and more detailed findings; however, the question of the blocked account and the whereabouts of the purchase price could not be conclusively clarified. Georg Jakob Schneider's synagogue blueprint must also still be considered lost.

The city of Freiburg did not initially have any specific development plans; however, the synagogue was no longer included in a planning model of Freiburg city planning under city architect Joseph Schlippe from 1937, that is, a year before the pogrom; Instead, Werderstrasse was to be widened into a large parade boulevard and, after removing the synagogue hill, a university study building and / or a parking lot was to be set up on the synagogue area. This plan was no longer implemented during the war. The square and the synagogue hill on the Rempart remained in ruins for many years; It was not until the beginning of the 1950s that the rubble was cleared, the synagogue hill partially removed and the entire area leveled.

On December 1, 1948, the city and the country reached a settlement with the Israelite community , according to which the city remained the owner of the former synagogue site, although the 1939 purchase agreement was declared null and void because it had come about under duress. In return, the city undertook to pay for the restoration of the Jewish cemetery, which had been vandalized during the Night of the Reichspogrom , the walling of the cemetery area and the construction of a guard's house with a cemetery hall, for which DM 59,443 was paid. In addition, it was regulated that the "area may not be used for purposes that could represent profanation ". The city council decided on July 9, 1954 that the use as a parking lot was compatible with this agreement.

Memory culture and space design

Gertrud Luckner , like Else Liefmann and other former Freiburg Jews, complained in writing to Mayor Wolfgang Hoffmann in September 1953 that “the city of Freiburg has this square without […] a plaque on the synagogue that stood here, and so on to our dead Jewish fellow citizens ”and asked for this to be changed. Liefmann described the fact that “in Freiburg they have not or still not decided to erect such a memorial sign” as “saddening proof of how indifferent how forgetful so many German people relate to those memories that would like to extinguish them as if nothing had happened. ”For its part, the city first wanted to check whether the 1948 settlement contained a corresponding obligation; According to the result of an internal report, there was no question of a memorial plaque. In November 1954, Luckner wrote again to the mayor and the rector of the university, which at that time was building the college building II near the former synagogue site. In 1955 she repeated her request and made a first proposal for an inscription:

“Here was
the synagogue of the Jewish community, Freiburg i. Bro.
Destroyed on November 9th 1938.
Father of Mercy, remember these believers and their murder,
their merits and the merits of their fathers.
Help their children in time of need.
(From a prayer on the Day of Atonement )
Sacred is the memory of the victims without number. "

From 1959 the city administration and the university exchanged several briefs, with the result that the city declared in February 1961 that it wanted to start planning a memorial plaque in order to be ready by the inauguration of the college building in summer 1961. However, it was not until November 1961 that the university senate could approve the text of the plaque, which was based on another suggestion from Luckner; only the description "in the time of godless tyranny" for the Third Reich was changed to "under a rule of violence and injustice":

The bronze memorial plaque from Karl Rißler at the original location

"Here stood
the synagogue of the Israelite community in Freiburg,
built in 1870 - it was destroyed on November 10, 1938
under a rule of violence and injustice."

The Freiburg sculptor Karl Rißler was commissioned to make a design. The bronze plaque was financed as art in construction . The Holocaust was not mentioned in the address given by Rector Clemens Bauer , which the Rectorate had set for November 11, 1962 at 11:00 a.m. In the following years there were complaints about the plaque set into the green area in front of the college building. The grass that began to overgrow the board and the lack of planting in the area were criticized. On November 9, 1966, the previously raised monument was unveiled for the second time and a little later, at the request of the Israelite community, it was surrounded by a hedge-shaped border.

In 1978 the city of Freiburg acquired the site from the state of Baden-Württemberg; The construction of an underground car park was planned, but this was not realized. In the purchase agreement, the city administration undertook to obtain written approval from the board of directors of the Israelite community for all changes to the square of the Old Synagogue.

The square between the city theater and the university, called “Europaplatz” in the 1980s, was renamed “Platz der Alten Synagoge” in 1996. Every year on November 9th, a commemoration ceremony was held on the bronze plaque with the participation of the city administration, the Israelite community, church representatives, the trade unions and other organizations.

Square of the Old Synagogue after the construction work to redesign the square, August 2016.

At the end of 2004, the Freiburg city administration organized a “Planungswerkstatt Platz der Alten Synagoge” on two dates, which was supposed to develop proposals and concepts for redesigning the square and ideas for future use. On March 21, 2006, the Freiburg municipal council decided to rebuild the square of the Old Synagogue and on March 28, 2006 put the new square design to public tender. In addition to general urban development concepts, the competition participants were also asked to “take up the theme of the 'Old Synagogue' in the design using creative or artistic means”. The “memory and information about the old synagogue and about the former and present Jewish life in the city” should be taken into account and “the area of ​​the old synagogue should be given a quieter character in the square concept, but also a place of encounter ('Knesset'). ) be".

The winning design by the architects Volker Rosenstiel and Martin Schedlbauer envisaged, in addition to the existing monuments, a water basin to trace the exact floor plan of the old synagogue on the square and to commemorate it symbolically in the sense of a memorial . As part of the “Stadtbahn und Umgestaltung Rotteckring” project, work began in 2012 with the closure of the Rotteckring.

In 2016, the historian Bernd Martin , chairman of the commission for the review of Freiburg street names, proposed to rename the place of the old synagogue to “place of the destroyed synagogue”, which was approved by the mayor Dieter Salomon . In July 2017, the SPD parliamentary group of the Freiburg municipal council appealed to this suggestion and submitted the corresponding request in a letter to the mayor: According to the SPD city councilors, the previous place name gives the impression that “there is a place for whatever reason always no longer needed church stood "; the "euphemistic previous naming conceals what actually happened, namely the destruction of the house of worship of the Jewish population of Freiburg as part of the extermination procession of the nationalist German Reich".

"... and in memory of the synagogue." The memorial site cleared in 2016, here in 2010.

The bronze memorial plaque was in front of the New Synagogue in Engelstrasse for the duration of the construction work and was let in on the east side of the fountain table in July 2017. Right next to the memorial plaque there were two sandstone slabs set into the ground until the renovation work began in 2016. The memorial, donated by Verlag Herder , combined the “Thanks for the preservation of the city u. Münster ”during the Allied bombing raid on November 27, 1944 with a“ Memorial to the Synagogue ”. The inscription read:

“As thanks for the preservation of the
city ​​and Münster
on November 27, 1944
and in memory of the synagogue. "

Controversy over the remains of the synagogue foundation

The exposed foundation wall of the synagogue, which was partially removed and refilled on November 2 and 3, 2016, in the middle the concrete foundation of a makeshift building built on the synagogue floor plan in the 1950s, behind it the university library, October 2016
The synagogue area in December 2016: excavation and foundation of the controversial water table in the outlines of the destroyed synagogue

In October 2004, Uschi Amitai of the then board of directors declared on behalf of the then community chairman Rimma Breiter that the unified community would not be interested in the foundations of the synagogue if they were to come across during the redesign of the square.

In the tendering phase for the design of the square in 2006, contradicting information was given about the presumed presence or absence of remains of foundations in the ground of the square. While the tender text submitted to the municipal council for a resolution on March 21, 2006 stated unequivocally: "The foundations of the old synagogue remained underground after the destruction in 1938 and the re-planning after the Second World War (approx. 30 cm coverage)", it said for a short time later in the announcement of the announcement that "the foundations of the old synagogue had been removed after the destruction in 1938 and the new planning after the Second World War".

At the end of September 2016, the remains of the foundations of the synagogue and the substructure of the heating system were found during excavation work for the synagogue well, which surprised the city administration and the state monument preservation. According to a statement by the responsible State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Baden-Wuerttemberg , Freiburg branch, a georadar investigation of the entire square was carried out in 2006 , which "did not provide any information about the remains of the destroyed synagogue"; "No traces of the building" appeared in this investigation.

The said investigation was carried out after the competition announcement on April 4, 2006. According to the measurement report of May 16, 2006, it provided “only a few”, but contrary to the 2016 statement by the Monument Preservation Office, “(e) unambiguous evidence of structural remains of the synagogue and parish hall”. This makes it possible to “reconstruct the approximate location on the basis of these remains.” The external company commissioned with the investigation also recommended in the “conclusion” of its measurement report that the “selective references” to the “remaining structural remains” “ "Unique should be in the case of earthworks at the relevant depths followed by targeted excavations. geophysical evidence of the remains of the 1922-built next to the town hall mikveh have not, however, result in loud measurement report.

The State Office for Monument Preservation, Freiburg branch, described and assessed the remains of the synagogue foundation in 2016 as a cultural monument in accordance with the Monument Protection Act , documented the find and spoke out in favor of its "preservation", but expressed no concerns when parts of the wall remnants were to be removed. as long as they “stand in the way of the foundation of the water basin”. According to the city administration, this was only “5 to 10 percent of the remains of the wall” or “a total of around 100 stones”, which, according to the State Office for Monument Preservation, “is compatible with monument protection, since the vast majority of the monument is on site “Will remain. The foundations remaining in the ground for the purpose of “preservation” should therefore be covered with geotextile and filled with earth. With reference to the findings of the monument protection authority, the city administration incorrectly assessed the wall fragments as the remains of "an extension built in 1925 in the eastern part of the synagogue"; however, the extension in 1925/26 affected the western part. The assumption that this extension “was deeper than the main building erected in 1870” served to explain that “these parts of the foundation were apparently preserved”. It was not until 2019 that this passage was removed from the city's website and the corresponding chapter was reformulated.

In a member survey, the unified Jewish community voted unanimously in favor of preserving the remains of the foundations on the spot as an authentic reminder and memorial site in full and visible form. The fact that the city had the exposed rows of stones removed on November 2nd and 3rd in order to create a "Place of Remembrance" in the form of a fountain as planned led to protests by the Freiburg Jewish community, descendants of Freiburg Jews abroad and parts of the local community Population. They were expressed, among other things, at a rally on November 9th and in a petition addressed to the city administration .

A video recording was made of the foundation removal by a construction company, which was also criticized with regard to the duty of care and technical supervision, filmed and commented on by Irina Katz, the chairman of the Israelite community in Freiburg. This film was presented and discussed at the municipal council meeting on November 15, 2016. As a result, the controversial construction project was put to the vote again and confirmed by a majority. As a result, the backfilling and leveling of the terrain began on November 17, 2016.

In terms of “dealing with stones removed from the remains of the foundations”, the local council decided in its meeting on July 25, 2017 - “against the background of the most varied expectations and controversial discussions after the remains of the basement foundations” - an externally moderated and structured dialogue process with the city administration and representatives of the two Jewish communities in Freiburg will be involved to discuss and clarify what should be done with the foundation stones that were removed in autumn 2016 and have been stored in a depot since then.

Criticism of the conception and use of the memorial

In his speech on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the square of the Old Synagogue on August 2, 2017, the then Mayor Dieter Salomon pointed out that the planning "from the beginning" had been "a central question" as to how the destroyed synagogue "should be dignified could "; Furthermore, he stated that “the Israelite community has always wanted” that “there should be life again where Jewish life has died out”. In his speech, the chairman of the Israelite Religious Community of Baden , Rami Suliman, described the water basin as "part of life on the square", which he did not regard as a memorial or a holy place, but as a sign that "Judaism in Freiburg is part of society" be.

The water table in memory of the Old Synagogue and its destruction on the day the place was cleared, August 2, 2017

With the clearance of the square and the water table, which was still used by people and dogs during the official opening ceremony, since then mainly by children as a paddling pool , and by adults also as a party area, a controversial public debate began on the question of whether this use would enhance the dignity of one Synagogue memorial is true and allowed to remain in the future. The Badische Zeitung , Die Welt and most recently the French magazine Allemagne d'aujourd'hui compared the debate on Freiburg's culture of remembrance with that of the Berlin memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe in critical articles .

The Freiburg Israelite community and the descendants of the members of the former Jewish community in Freiburg living abroad once again expressed their fundamental criticism of the memorial concept in statements and design proposals. They spoke out against the proposed renaming of the square and, among other things, expressed the wish to remove the memorial plaque from the fountain basin, either to erect it together with the foundation stones removed in November 2016 in front of the New Synagogue or to integrate them into the fountain basin.

The historian Heinrich Schwendemann criticized that the memorial plaque in the water basin is difficult to see when the water surface is moving and that people step on it carelessly; Their abstract text anonymizing the perpetrators of the synagogue destruction (“under a rule of violence and injustice”) provides too little information overall to even perceive the site as a memorial. Schwendemann also criticized that "the real victims, the people who had gone to the Freiburg synagogue, (...) (remain) unmentioned".

Yehuda Hyman: "Jew in the Pool", August 23, 2017

On August 23, 2017, “Jew in the Pool” was performed in the water basin, a roughly two-hour performance by the Jewish dancer and choreographer Yehuda Hyman from New York . In street clothes and with a tallit over his head , he tried to make the children and adults splashing around him aware of the history of this place and to remind them of the destroyed synagogue. Hyman repeated "Jew in the Pool" in the summer of 2018, which was reported in the local press. In 2019, Hyman published an article in the Israeli magazine Dance Today about his experiences, the reactions of the visitors to the square and the new mayor of Freiburg, Martin Horn , who wrote him a personal letter in 2018 .

According to a statement by the Freiburg municipal councils of the SPD, the JPG and the Independent Lists 2017, it is not possible for visitors to “recognize the warning character of the fountain” due to a lack of background information (...). So they could "take no position on the memorial"; It is therefore necessary to attach information boards at a later date.

Volker Rosenstiel and Martin Schedlbauer, the architects of the water table they referred to as a water mirror , otherwise a synagogue fountain , memorial fountain or place of remembrance , were surprised in 2017 by the intensive use and "play" as a paddling pool and party area and expressed their incomprehension. At the same time, the two architects defended their design for the square, which, in their opinion, fulfills the requirement for a lively place that also enables silent commemoration at the water table.

On September 10, 2017, a civil society- initiated protest took place, at which a worthy commemoration at the synagogue memorial was demanded. The action, which was repeated on the following Sundays, was used by the Israeli daily newspaper The Jerusalem Post as an occasion for a summarizing report on the criticized culture of remembrance on the square of the Old Synagogue and the improvements recently announced by the city administration.

As a reaction to the criticism that was often expressed about the handling of the synagogue memorial site, the then mayor Dieter Salomon announced on September 18, 2017 that the city administration had decided to put up “temporary information boards” by the end of October 2017. According to a press release, “the history and the background of the fountain will become more understandable for visitors to the square” and “should be accompanied by a better awareness of appropriate behavior at the memorial site”. The "final design for explanations of the place of remembrance" will then be worked out in the coming months together with the Jewish communities in a moderation process. The main committee of the local council also decided not to pursue the proposal to rename the square any further.

The water basin, in front the recessed memorial plaque, in the middle the inlet grille. September 30, 2017

At the municipal council meeting on September 26, 2017, Salomon made a brief statement to the members of the municipal council: It was a "question of decency" how to deal with the memorial site. Solomon also spoke of the city's " obligation " to set up signs indicating the purpose of the fountain and its shape. As the moderation process begins, the city administration will coordinate with the Freiburg Jewish communities and install two preliminary information steles in the next few weeks; A final solution should then be found in the spring of 2018 using the form of remembrance. What should be done with the foundation stones of the destroyed synagogue, which were removed in 2016, is also the subject of this moderation process.

At the official Gurs memorial event of the city of Freiburg on October 22, 2017, in which several civil society organizations and the Jewish communities of Freiburg took part, the chairwoman of the Israelite community, Irina Katz, reminded the community that it is more sensitive to how it deals with I wanted the removed foundation stones and their integration on the square of the Old Synagogue: “As the past few weeks since its completion have shown, passers-by perceive the water level as the dominant design element of the large central square, but not as a place for the Jewish people in the city share an indelible experience of suffering. An architectural integration of the stone remains in the design of the square would have taken this aspect into account significantly more. "

On November 6, 2017 (replaced in November 2018), two identical information steles, approximately 1.60 × 0.50 m in size, were set up in front of the west and east side of the water table, on which the history of the site is explained and in English is asked to behave appropriately at the “place of remembrance”. The board text is illustrated by two photographs and a floor plan sketch; a larger photo above shows the synagogue building after the expansion in 1926, the smaller one at the bottom of the text field - in its first version - the building destroyed by fire and demolition on November 10, 1938. According to his own account, the then law student Wolf Middendorff succeeded On November 10, 1938, despite a supposed ban on photography imposed by the SS or the police, taking several photos of the synagogue destroyed by fire and demolition from the adjacent university building. His photograph, initially shown on the stele, was considered the only surviving pictorial document of the destroyed Freiburg synagogue. It was subsequently criticized that the attribution of Middendorff, which is required under the law, had remained uncommented on the boards and that this had not contained any further references to the context in which it was created and the photographer's verifiable Nazi burden.

Provisional information board, first version, November 2017.

The German text read:

“Old synagogue

The synagogue of the Israelite community of Freiburg, built in 1869/70, stood here. On the night of November 9-10, 1938, the synagogue was set on fire by the Freiburg SS. The SA cordoned off the scene of the fire. The fire brigade called in prevented the fire from spreading to the surrounding area, but was not allowed to extinguish the burning synagogue itself. The destruction of the synagogue marks the transition from the disenfranchisement and discrimination of fellow Jews to persecution and the Holocaust.

With the replica of the floor plan of the Old Synagogue in the form of a water mirror, the citizens who were persecuted, deported and murdered during the Nazi era (1933-1945) and who fell victim to terror and violence under the Nazi regime are remembered .

Their fate obliges us to stand up against anti-Semitism and racism as well as for peace and freedom and to defend these values ​​with determination.

The water level is a place of remembrance. We ask for a behavior that is respectful and appropriate to the dignity of the place. "

In addition, the city of Freiburg provided additional information on its website on the history of the old synagogue and its destruction, on the history of the Jewish community in Freiburg and on the subject of "National Socialism in Freiburg", including a list of literature from the city archive and a graphical contribution from the state office for Preservation of monuments to the foundations of foundations in 2016. The link to this website or a QR code are also on the boards.

Journalist Beate Klarsfeld and her husband, historian and lawyer Serge Klarsfeld , who became known for tracking down Nazi criminals and who were appointed UNESCO special ambassadors for education about the Holocaust and the prevention of genocides in 2015 , turned in late October 2017 with an open letter to Lord Mayor Salomon and the Freiburg City Council. In their writing they clearly criticized the commemorative culture on the square of the Old Synagogue, in particular the conception of the memorial fountain, the handling of the removed foundation stones and the previous failure to consider the concerns of the descendants of expelled and murdered members of the synagogue community at that time. Salomon's reply prompted Beate and Serge Klarsfeld to send another open letter to the Freiburg city administration in January 2018, in which they intensified the criticism of the memorial concept, including the information boards.

Moderation procedure for dealing with the place of remembrance

In the meeting of the building and reallocation committee of the Freiburg municipal council on June 27, 2018 and at a press conference the following day, the result of the dialogue process between the city administration and the Jewish communities, which was completed on March 16, 2018 and lasted several months, on the whereabouts of the remains of the old foundations Synagogue presented stones taken from the synagogue. In addition, according to the final report, recommendations were drawn up "how to treat the synagogue fountain with respect and dignity". The installation of additional information boards requested in this regard has already been implemented and recognized in the ongoing dialogue process. The resolution proposal contains a. the following recommendations for knowledge and voting in the municipal council meeting on July 10, 2018:

Clarification of conceptual definitions and conceptions: “The place of the old synagogue and especially the synagogue fountain” is, contrary to previous names, neither a memorial nor a memorial . The fountain is a place of remembrance and as such should be treated with respect and dignity; a “temporary commemoration in the form of Jewish commemoration or remembrance events” is “basically possible and desirable”.

Textual revision and permanent whereabouts of the two previous provisional explanatory steles, as well as the installation of a digital information board near the memorial fountain.

Ensuring the preservation and use of the best preserved and suitable foundation stones in the planned central NS documentation center in Freiburg.

Were rejected by the city administration u. a. the suggestions of the Jewish communities to use the wording "Please do not enter" in the stele text, to engrave the names of the murdered Freiburg Jews in the memorial fountain themselves or to integrate the foundation stones in the memorial fountain in the sense of a memorial or an additional memorial. Instead, the city administration decided to use the phrase “request for appropriate behavior”. The names should be able to be read in a “memorial room” in the planned documentation center (“House of Democracy”) and / or on the digital information board provided.

Due to the increased use of the memorial fountain as a paddling pool in the summer of 2018 despite the information boards, several municipal councils self-critically warned of the responsibility to create the conditions for a worthy place of remembrance; those involved in the 2006 planning process did not see the conflict between the place of remembrance and public use at the time and misjudged the situation.

Informal and structural improvements to the memorial fountain

The city administration announced that it would continue the dialogue process beyond 2018 in order to work out proposals in coordination with the Jewish communities and the architects of the square, "how to get people to use the fountain with dignity"; According to Mayor Ulrich von Kirchbach, these should be submitted to the local council “after the summer break” in 2018.

"This fountain is a place of remembrance" - Provisional information board, August 2018.

On August 22, 2018, the city administration temporarily installed three more information boards at the memorial fountain, which should contribute to a “respectful handling” of the place of remembrance. For the first time, the indirect request not to enter the water table is also formulated on the temporary stands . On closer inspection, the incomplete symbol of a Star of David can be seen on the right edge of the text and image area, which is kept in gray tones . The monolingual German text, which lacks the imprint of the city of Freiburg, reads: “This fountain is a place of remembrance. The floor plan of the burned down synagogue is reminiscent of the Freiburg Jews who were murdered during the National Socialist era. Thank you for being respectful and for not entering the fountain. ”On September 8, 2018, two of the three information boards were allegedly damaged by anti-Semitic motives. The damaged stands were initially repaired, but after renewed damage to property on all three panels, they were replaced by two new ones made of wood.

The revised information board, November 2018.

Based on the newspaper report on Middendorff photography, a private person reported to the Freiburg City Archives in spring 2018 and submitted another, previously unknown photograph of the destroyed synagogue; Also made on November 10, 1938, but before the first explosions in the late afternoon, it shows the damage to the building from the fire. Since the 80th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht on November 9, 2018, this photograph has replaced the criticized Middendorff photograph on the information boards, which were also slightly changed in text.

In April 2019, the catalog of measures announced for 2018 became known, which was the subject matter and result of the previous dialogue process between the city administration and Jewish communities and for which costs of 700,000 euros were initially estimated. After completion of the dialogue process, these costs were finally put at around 500,000 euros in November 2019. In addition to the already mentioned digital information stele, a “zoning band” made of metal with a multilingual inscription is to be attached at a distance of 2 meters around the water table. Together with corresponding pictograms along the water table and a "true-to-scale bronze model of the old synagogue in a clearly perceptible dimension on a correspondingly high plinth", the aforementioned structural changes and additions in the immediate vicinity of the memorial fountain are intended to prevent further access or use as a paddling pool becomes, as it was observed again in 2019 after the winter break and the discharge of the water. The provisional, wooden folding stands are to be dismantled again, while the two metal information steles are to remain. Initially, no agreement could be reached on the specific positioning of the synagogue model and the digital information desk; In addition, the proposed inscription on the zoning tape - "For my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples - Isaiah 56: 7" - was rejected by the unified Israelite community. The draft resolution was voted on at the municipal council meeting on May 7, 2019 and all other points were confirmed. In the final round of dialogue on July 10, 2019, the participants finally agreed to label the zoning tape around the fountain with the Hebrew word זכור (Zachor, “Remember”) in eight languages, while the Isaiah quotation on the base of the synagogue model should stand. In addition, the dialogue round agreed that the digital stele should be installed on the north-west side and the bronze model on the north-east side of the fountain. The analog information steles, which have been described as “provisional” so far, are to remain at the fountain. The stele on the northeast side of the fountain will only be relocated to the southeast side.


Pictograms on the information boards and along the memorial fountain, August 2019.

In August 2019, the city administration installed small-format boards with six pictograms each in eight places along the fountain and on the information steles (see illustration). According to the official declaration, with the behavioral instructions shown on it, the city makes it clear “what it expects from respectful and dignified behavior and which behavior is appropriate for the place.” The monolingual heading on the pictogram boards reads: “Floor plan of the destroyed synagogue. Please do not enter."

literature

  • Program for the inauguration of the New Synagogue in Freiburg i. B. September 23, 1870 . Freiburg 1870.
  • The synagogue in: Freiburg im Breisgau. The city and its buildings . H. M. Poppen & Sohn, Freiburg im Breisgau 1898, p. 406 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08035-2 .
  • Joachim Hahn , Jürgen Krüger : Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities (= memorial book of the synagogues in Germany . Volume 4). Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 , pp. 127-132.
  • Clemens Rehm: Freiburg . In: Franz-Josef Ziwes (Hrsg.): Baden synagogues from the time of Grand Duke Friedrich I in contemporary photographs . G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1997, ISBN 3-7650-8177-9 , pp. 42-43.

Web links

Commons : Old Synagogue  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

* Old Synagogue Freiburg im Breisgau near Alemannia Judaica (with many photos)

Individual evidence

  1. a b On the history of the Jewish community on Alemannia Judaica (accessed on November 12, 2017) .
  2. See on this: Peter Schickl: From protection and autonomy to cremation and expulsion: Jews in Freiburg , in: Heiko Haumann / Hans Schadek (ed.): History of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. Volume 1. From the beginnings to the “New City Law” . Stuttgart 1996, p. 544.
  3. ^ Heinrich Schwendemann: The Jews are expelled from the city . In: Jürgen Dendorfer u. a .: For year and day. Freiburg's history in the Middle Ages . Freiburg 2013, pp. 123–142.
  4. ^ Gabriele Blod / Wolfgang Hug u. a .: Unrest in the "Pfaffenstädtchen". Reaction, "New Era" and Kulturkampf (1850–1870) , in: Heiko Haumann / Hans Schadek (eds.): History of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. Volume 3. From the rule of Baden to the present . Stuttgart 1992, p. 157.
  5. See Jewish history in Freiburg. The path to founding the Israelite community and the construction of the synagogue on freiburg.de (accessed on November 13, 2017).
  6. ^ A b Clemens Rehm: Freiburg . In: Franz-Josef Ziwes (Hrsg.): Baden synagogues from the time of Grand Duke Friedrich I in contemporary photographs . G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1997, ISBN 3-7650-8177-9 , p. 42.
  7. a b c d Kathrin Clausing: Life on demand. On the history of Freiburg's Jews under National Socialism , Freiburg im Breisgau city archive, Freiburg im Breisgau 2005, ISBN 3-923272-33-2 , p. 30.
  8. Little newspaper. In: Freiburg newspaper . September 25, 1870, Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
  9. See the remains of the former Freiburg synagogue documented on: freiburg.de (accessed on November 13, 2017)
  10. a b For the presentation (images) of these exhibits, cf. the exhibition National Socialism in Freiburg , Augustinermuseum 2016/17, These exhibits tell the story of Freiburg under National Socialism , Badische Zeitung, 23 November 2016 .
  11. Bertram Jenisch: An architectural stumbling block. In: National Socialism in Freiburg, book accompanying the exhibition in the Augustinermuseum , Michael Imhoff Verlag, Petersberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-7319-0362-8 , pp. 172–173.
  12. ^ Hans Schadek: Freiburg then - yesterday - today. The city through the last 100 years , Kiel, Steinkopf 2004, ISBN 3-7984-0771-1 , p. 115.
  13. Hans Sigmund: The day on which the university burned , Badische Zeitung, July 21, 2008.
  14. Heiko Haumann : Remember and don't forget. Freiburg and November 9, 1938. Address on the 50th anniversary . In: Stadtarchiv Freiburg (ed.): The fate of the Freiburg Jews using the example of the businessman Max Mayer and the events of 9/10 November 1938 (= City and History, New Series of the Freiburg i.Br. City Archives, Issue 13), Freiburg 1989, pp. 10–26; Heiko Haumann, Hans Schadek (Hrsg.): History of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau Vol. 3: From the Baden rule to the present , Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-1635-5 , here the chapter: [Heiko Haumann:] Das Schicksal der Juden , pp. 325–339, there pp. 331 ff .; Kathrin Clausing: life on demand. On the history of the Freiburg Jews under National Socialism . City Archives Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg im Breisgau 2005, ISBN 3-923272-33-2 , p. 259.
  15. On the role of Walter Stein and Kurt Kaul in the Reichspogromnacht 1938 see: Markus Wolter: Radolfzell in National Socialism - The Heinrich-Koeppen-Kaserne as the location of the Waffen-SS , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings, Volume 129. Ostfildern, Thorbecke 2011, pp. 247–286, here the chapter: Reichspogrom 1938 , pp. 257 ff. ( Digitized version ( memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet Checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bodenseebibliotheken.de
  16. Heiko Wegmann, Who Was Walter Gunst? , Lecture on November 5, 2012 in the Breisgau History Association; see: Badische Zeitung, November 7, 2012.
  17. Cf. David Maier: When the home became a foreigner , in: Journal of the Breisgau history association "Schau-ins-Land" . 112th annual issue 1993, Freiburg 1993, pp. 171–181.
  18. Heinrich Schwendemann : "The home rushed into nowhere". Exclusion, persecution and deportation of the Jewish citizens of Freiburg, 1933–1940 . In: National Socialism in Freiburg, book accompanying the exhibition in the Augustinermuseum , Michael Imhoff Verlag, Petersberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-7319-0362-8 , p. 46 .; see. here also: Heiko Wegmann: The Reichspogromnacht in Freiburg. Escalation of Anti-Semitism , p. 222.
  19. Käthe Vordtriede: "There are times when you wither". My life in Germany before and after 1933. Edited and with an afterword by Detlef Garz. Libelle, Lengwil 1999, p. 195.
  20. ^ Markus Wolter: At the Synagogenstein. A photo, a law student and the pogrom night against the Jews. Wolf Middendorff and November 10, 1938 in Freiburg. In: Badische Zeitung, February 24, 2018 , published as PDF on Alemannia Judaica , accessed on November 10, 2018; for biography and estate cf. also: Finding aid for the Middendorff holdings in the Freiburg State Archives ; on the development of this inventory and assessment by the Freiburg State Archives see: Anja Schellinger: Ein Nachlass mit Potential. With the estate of Wolf Middendorff, the Freiburg State Archives opened up biographical documents with some explosive power . In: Moments. Contributions to regional studies of Baden-Württemberg , 3/2019, pp. 40–43; see. also: Klaus Theweleit : Männerphantasien , revised edition, Matthes & Seitz, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-95757-759-7 , here the chapter from the epilogue 2018/19: Antisemitism, modern handling , pp. 1249–1252; Online on Google Books , accessed August 23, 2020.
  21. Wolf Middendorff: When the synagogues burned in Breisgau , in: Klaus Poppen (Ed.): Freiburg Almanach 1979. Thirtieth Illustrated Yearbook , Freiburg 1979, pp. 67–73; here p. 69 f., cf. also: Wolf Middendorff: The "Reichskristallnacht" in a historical and criminological perspective , in: Journal of the Breisgau history association "Schau-ins-Land" . 107. Jahresheft 1988, Freiburg 1988, pp. 227–245, here pp. 228 f .; Online to Freiburg historical stocks - digital. Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg.
  22. Ulrike Rödling: They burn all over Germany , Badische Zeitung, November 8, 2008.
  23. Ernst Otto Bräunche: "The Reichskristallnacht" in Freiburg , in: Journal of the Breisgau history association "Schau-ins-Land" . 103. Jahresheft 1984, Freiburg 1984, pp. 149–160, here p. 150 f., Online on Freiburg historical stocks - digital. Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg.
  24. ^ Heiko Wegmann: The night of fire 75 years ago, The SS and the Reichspogrom on November 9, 1938 in Freiburg , Badische Zeitung, November 9, 2013.
  25. Käthe Vordtriede: "There are times when you wither". My life in Germany before and after 1933. Edited and with an afterword by Detlef Garz. Libelle, Lengwil 1999, p. 198.
  26. Kathrin Clausing: Life on demand. On the history of the Freiburg Jews under National Socialism. Freiburg City Archives, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 3-923272-33-2 , p. 42.
  27. a b c Kathrin Clausing: Life on demand. On the history of the Freiburg Jews under National Socialism. Freiburg City Archives, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 3-923272-33-2 , p. 93 f.
  28. See: Frank Zimmermann: Das verschollenekonto , Badische Zeitung, June 2, 2018.
  29. Julia Wolrab: Scientific documentation of the research on the history of the Old Synagogue in Freiburg from a property law perspective, revised version, presented on October 8 , 2019 , on freiburg.de (accessed on November 14, 2019.)
  30. Fabian Vögtle: Historian on the history of the synagogue property: “To the disadvantage of the Jews” , Badische Zeitung, October 24, 2019.
  31. ^ Joachim Hahn, Jürgen Krüger: Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities (= memorial book of the synagogues in Germany . Volume 4). Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 , p. 131; Ruben Frankenstein: Letters to the Editor Freiburg: Remnants of the foundations of the Old Synagogue: "All the more gratifying is the alliance of all movements in Judaism". Badische Zeitung, November 28, 2016, accessed on April 13, 2017 .
  32. a b c d e f Ute Scherb: "We get the monuments that we deserve". Freiburg monuments in the 19th and 20th centuries. City archive Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg im Breisgau 2005, ISBN 3-923272-31-6 , p. 235-238 .
  33. ^ A b Uwe Mauch: Freiburg: Decision in the municipal council: The place of the old synagogue will be greener than planned. Badische Zeitung, July 27, 2010, accessed on April 13, 2017 .
  34. a b Anja Bochtler: Strong in threes. Unified congregation, Chabad and liberals want to keep the remains of the wall of the old synagogue. Jüdische Allgemeine , January 26, 2016, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  35. See template G-06/029, redesign of Werder-, Rotteck- and Friedrichring, here: Realization competition Platz der Alte Synagoge - competition award and nomination of the members of the municipal council of the jury; Annex 3 to printed matter G-06/029: Draft of the text of the competition, municipal council meeting of March 21, 2006, accessed on December 8, 2016, council information and citizen information system of the Freiburg im Breisgau city administration
  36. Redesign of the Rotteckring: Questions and Answers. In: freiburg.de. February 20, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017 .
  37. ^ Square of the Old Synagogue: Remembrance and Commemoration of the Delusion Mania. In: freiburg.de. December 9, 2016, archived from the original on June 28, 2017 ; accessed on April 13, 2017 .
  38. Quoted from: Joachim Röderer: SPD wants to rename place , in: Badische Zeitung, 7 July 2017.
  39. Federal Agency for Civic Education (ed.): Memorials for the victims of National Socialism. Volume 1. Baden-Württemberg a. a. A documentation. 2nd, revised edition. Bonn 1995–1999, p. 34., online as PDF.
  40. Ute Scherb: "We get the monuments that we deserve". Freiburg monuments in the 19th and 20th centuries. City archive Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg im Breisgau 2005, ISBN 3-923272-31-6 , p. 205, footnote 68 . .
  41. a b c d Julia Littmann: Freiburg: Old Synagogue: Stones or none - who knew what? Badische Zeitung, November 12, 2016, accessed on November 12, 2016 .
  42. ^ Simone Höhl: Remnants of the foundation of an extension building , Badische Zeitung, October 19, 2016
  43. ^ Documented remains of the former Freiburg synagogue. In: freiburg.de. September 23, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  44. a b c Platz der Alten Synagoge: Remembrance and commemoration of the extermination mania. In: freiburg.de. December 9, 2016, archived from the original on June 12, 2018 ; accessed on March 12, 2018 .
  45. Simone Höhl: Freiburg: Surprise: found remains of the old synagogue in Freiburg. Badische Zeitung, October 4, 2016, accessed on December 6, 2016 .
  46. See: GGU. Society for Geophysical Investigations mbH, Karlsruhe: Location of structural remains of the former synagogue (Freiburg). Measurement report from May 16, 2006; Administration (gardening and civil engineering office), City of Freiburg im Breisgau.
  47. ^ Documented remains of the former Freiburg synagogue. In: freiburg.de. September 23, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  48. ^ Simone Lutz: Freiburg: Controversial Action: City removes remains of the old synagogue. Badische Zeitung, November 2, 2016, accessed on November 3, 2016 . ; Roswitha Strüber: "Yes" to the preservation of the remains of the foundations of the Old Synagogue A protest meeting of Freiburg citizens. Israelitische Gemeinde Freiburg, November 11, 2016, accessed on April 4, 2017 . ; Julia Littmann: On November 9th, Freiburg was also reminded of Progrom Night. Badische Zeitung, November 11, 2016, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  49. a b Waltraud Schwab: First the Nazi blows up, now the cold. TAZ, November 13, 2016, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  50. a b Julia Littmann: Place of the Old Synagogue: Municipal Council for Further Building. Badische Zeitung, November 16, 2016, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  51. See the wording of the speech by the City Councilor Wolf-Dieter Winkler, Freiburg Lebenswert party , at www.freiburg-lebenswert.de (accessed on November 22, 2017)
  52. See resolution draft of June 28, 2017 for the municipal council meeting on July 25, 2017, accessed on October 9, 2017, printed matter G-17/017.
  53. Neue Mitte: Platz der Alte Synagoge is opened in: City of Freiburg im Breisgau: Official Journal , No. 792, August 11, 2017, p. 1.
  54. a b c Simone Lutz: Can you splash around in the new water basin on the square of the Old Synagogue? , Badische Zeitung, August 2, 2017.
  55. See: The space is needed. The designers of the square of the Old Synagogue on planned and unexpected successes , Sunday, August 27, 2017.
  56. ↑ Maintain the dignity of the place. The historian Heinrich Schwendemann on the renovation of the "Old Synagogue Square" , statement on the Press and Public Relations page of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg , August 3, 2017
  57. Thomas Fricker: Remembrance culture in Freiburg, a matter of decency , Badische Zeitung, August 4, 2017
  58. ^ Dimitri Tolkatsch: Freiburg. Sunbathing at the memorial site , Jüdische Allgemeine, August 10, 2017.
  59. Larissa Schober: Remembering to forget. Dispute over the redesigned “Old Synagogue Square” , in: Jungle World , August 17, 2017.
  60. ^ Thomas Fricker: Remembrance culture in Freiburg, a matter of decency , Badische Zeitung, August 4, 2017 ; see. also the summarizing criticism: Wulf Rüskamp: Where the synagogue burned: Freiburgs Platz der neue Peinlichkeit , Badische Zeitung, December 29, 2017 ; Philip Kuhn: Cooling beer bottles where the synagogue was burning , Die Welt, August 10, 2017.
  61. ^ Anne-Marie Corbin : Consensus et controverses dans la commémoration de la Shoah en Allemagne , here: Un exemple de monument controversé: la fontaine de Friborg-en-Brisgau. In: Allemagne d'aujourd'hui 225 (2018), pp. 33–45.
  62. Tamara Zieve: Nazi-destroyed synagogue used as wading pool in Germany , The Jerusalem Post, September 24, 2017.
  63. ↑ Maintain the dignity of the place. The historian Heinrich Schwendemann on the renovation of the "Old Synagogue Square" , statement on the Press and Public Relations page of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg , August 3, 2017
  64. See also the interview by Schwendemann on August 2, 2017 for Radio Dreyeckland : A paddling pool in the outline of the synagogue? , Audio stream on free-radios.net
  65. Frank Zimmermann: That's why a dancer from Brooklyn kneels in the memorial fountain , Badische Zeitung, August 9, 2018.
  66. ^ Yehuda Hyman: Jew in the Pool . In: Dance Today. The Dance Magazine of Israel , No. 36, September 2019 , here: pp. 29–33; Online (PDF) .
  67. Simone Lutz: Three municipal council groups would like information boards for the square of the Old Synagogue , Badische Zeitung, August 5, 2017.
  68. ^ Badische Zeitung, September 15, 2017.
  69. a b Simone Lutz: Does the place of the old synagogue work from the point of view of the inventors? Badische Zeitung, September 27, 2017, accessed on September 29, 2017 .
  70. Jens Kitzler: The space is needed. The designers of the square of the Old Synagogue on planned and unexpected successes , Sunday, August 27, 2017.
  71. Christian Henke: 100 people protested on Freiburg's square in the old synagogue , Badische Zeitung, September 11, 2017.
  72. Tamara Zieve: Nazi-destroyed synagogue used as wading pool in Germany , Jerusalem Post, September 24, 2017.
  73. See also: Heide Sobotka: paddling pool instead of memorial site. Citizens have been demonstrating against the abuse of the synagogue monument for a few weeks , Jüdische Allgemeine, October 8, 2017.
  74. ^ Joachim Röderer: Place of the Old Synagogue. The memorial fountain gets provisional information boards , Badische Zeitung, September 18, 2017.
  75. Simone Lutz: Salomon makes only a brief statement on the place of the Old Synagogue , Badische Zeitung, September 27, 2017.
  76. Anja Bochtler: The places of remembrance. Friends' association 'Memorial for the deported Jews of Baden' on the square of the Old Synagogue , Badische Zeitung, 23 October 2017.
  77. ^ Simone Höhl: Information steles set up next to the memorial fountain on the square of the Old Synagogue , Badische Zeitung, November 7, 2017.
  78. On the history of the origins of Middendorff photography and the person of the photographer see: Markus Wolter: Am Synagogenstein. A photo, a law student and the pogrom night against the Jews. Wolf Middendorff and November 10, 1938 in Freiburg. In: Badische Zeitung, February 24, 2018 ; uploaded as PDF to Alemannia Judaica ; see. also: Anne-Marie Corbin: Consensus et controverses dans la commémoration de la Shoah en Allemagne , in: Allemagne d'aujourd'hui 225 (2018), p. 43 f .; see. also: Klaus Theweleit: Männerphantasien , revised edition, Matthes & Seitz, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-95757-759-7 , here the chapter from the epilogue 2018/19: Antisemitism, modern handling , pp. 1249–1252; Online on Google Books , accessed August 23, 2020.
  79. See Old Synagogue on freiburg.de (accessed on November 6, 2017).
  80. Julia Littmann: Klarsfelds write to Freiburg. The two prominent Nazi hunters harshly criticize the commemorative culture on the square of the Old Synagogue , Badische Zeitung, November 15, 2017.
  81. See the letter in full, Radio Dreyeckland, November 17, 2017 ; there also the interview with François Blum, Lyon , son of an Auschwitz survivor from Freiburg, who belonged to the synagogue community at the time. Blum initiated the Klarsfelds' letter and designed it with them.
  82. Dieter Salomon's reply is dated November 24, 2017 and was put online by Radio Dreyckland .
  83. See: Frank Zimmermann: The dispute over commemoration on the square of the Old Synagogue is entering the next round , Badische Zeitung, January 25, 2018.
  84. Moderation procedure / dialogue process on the square of the Old Synagogue: results and recommendations for handling the foundation stones on the square of the Old Synagogue , Annex to the meeting of the building and reallocation committee, June 27, 2018 (PDF), information system of the Freiburg municipal council, accessed on 29 June 2018 ; see. also: Synagogue model instead of memorial site , commentary report and recording of the press conference, on: Radio Dreyeckland, June 29, 2018 .
  85. Resolution draft of the municipal council meeting on July 10, 2018, printed matter G-18/100, Ratsinformationssystem des Freiburger Germeinderats , accessed on June 29, 2018.
  86. Fabian Vögtle: A summer's day at the Freiburg synagogue fountain shows the conflict of use , Badische Zeitung, July 16, 2018
  87. See Uwe Mauch: City councilors misjudged the situation on the square of the Old Synagogue, Badische Zeitung, June 4, 2018 ; Frank Zimmermann / Jelka Louisa Beule: City and Jewish communities want to limit splashing around in synagogue fountains , Badische Zeitung, June 29, 2018 Heinz Siebold: Freiburg Synagogue Square. How do you combine fun and piety? . Stuttgarter Zeitung , June 29, 2018, accessed on July 16, 2020 .
  88. Uwe Mauch: Freiburg announces proposals for the memorial fountain - after the summer break , Badische Zeitung, July 12, 2018.
  89. ^ Simone Höhl: The timetable for the dialogue process around the square of the Old Synagogue , Badische Zeitung, July 16, 2018.
  90. ^ Simone Lutz: Provisional solution. There are now new information boards at Freiburg's synagogue fountain , Badische Zeitung, 22 August 2018.
  91. ^ Fabian Vögtle: Signs damaged , Badische Zeitung, September 11, 2018.
  92. see: Markus Wolter: A valuable historical find . In: Badische Zeitung, November 9, 2018 ; published as PDF on Alemannia Judaica , accessed on November 10, 2018.
  93. Fabian Vögtle: Fine-tuning for the memorial fountain. The city of Freiburg wants to invest 700,000 euros in the renovation of the synagogue fountain. In: Badische Zeitung, April 27, 2019.
  94. Fabian Vögtle: Half a million euros for corrections to the fountain on the square of the Old Synagogue. In: Badische Zeitung, November 5, 2019.
  95. Printed matter G-19/081, draft resolution of the municipal council meeting of May 7, 2019, council information and citizen information system of the city administration of Freiburg im Breisgau , accessed on May 7, 2019.
  96. Simone Höhl: City repairs wells. “No memorial.” In: Badische Zeitung, March 9, 2019.
  97. ^ Fabian Vögtle: City of Freiburg and two Jewish communities agree on the design of the synagogue fountain. In: Badische Zeitung, July 25, 2019.
  98. Fabian Vögtle: Half a million euros for corrections to the fountain on the square of the Old Synagogue. In: Badische Zeitung, November 5, 2019.
  99. New pictograms at the synagogue fountain - www.freiburg.de. Retrieved August 6, 2019 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 40.5 ″  N , 7 ° 50 ′ 45.6 ″  E