Old Synagogue (Magdeburg)

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The Old Synagogue Magdeburg was the synagogue in Magdeburg . It was located in the old town at Grosse Schulstrasse 22 c.

First synagogue 957–1550

The first documentary mention of a Jewish community in Magdeburg dates back to 965. The founding of the community is believed to have been in 957. The Jewish residential area was outside the city, near the Sudenburg, around what is now Hasselbachplatz . In 1492 all Jews were expelled. The original synagogue became a Christian church with the patronage of the Virgin Mary , which was destroyed in the course of the siege of Magdeburg by Moritz von Sachsen in 1550/51.

New beginning 1705

Until 1704 there was no longer any resident Jewish population in Magdeburg. In 1705, Abraham Liebermann settled down as a protective Jew with a trading house in the city. In the period that followed, the first prayer rooms were built in Kleine Münzstrasse no.5 and Prälatenstrasse no.27.

New building in 1850

Due to the growth of the synagogue community in Magdeburg , an application was made to the city on February 18, 1849 for permission to build a church. After approval had been granted, the foundation stone was laid in Grosse Schulstrasse (today's Julius-Bremer-Strasse ) on September 19, 1850, and the consecration was carried out on September 14, 1851 by Rabbi Ludwig Philippson .

The building had neo-Gothic elements and was described as imposing, gorgeous but simple, large, slim and facing the street.

Remodeling in 1897

Old Synagogue Magdeburg, Grosse Schulstrasse 22 c. Exterior view of the former synagogue, destroyed in 1938, demolished in 1939.

Due to the further growth of the city and the community, however, an expansion was necessary in the 1890s. In an open architectural competition in 1894, the community asked for space for 1,300 visitors (700 male, 600 female seats), an anteroom for 40 visitors, an organ , a rabbi’s room , an apartment for the sexton , a room for slaughtering poultry, a community secretariat, and a meeting room for the board and finally a religious school with 3 classrooms. The jury awarded the first prize to the Berlin architects Wilhelm Cremer and Richard Wolffenstein from among the 26 competition designs submitted .

However, instead of the originally planned demolition and completely new building in 1897, the municipality only carried out conversions and extensions. The commissioned Magdeburg architect Alf Hurum chose a Moorish-Arabic, orientalizing style .

The Magdeburg synagogue community was liberal and practiced a Reformed rite .

November pogroms 1938

During the November pogroms , the inside of the synagogue was destroyed by the SA , SS and Hitler Youth . The setting on fire in other cities did not take place in Magdeburg because of the nearby residential buildings in the old town. The Torah curtain donated for the inauguration in 1851 was saved and is still owned by the synagogue community today.

In the spring of 1939 all of the synagogue's buildings were blown up.

Development after 1945

The area, which was also hit in World War II, was acquired by the city of Magdeburg after the end of the National Socialist era . There was a residential development with DDR - panel buildings . The few community members who escaped the persecution and the Holocaust and who remained in Magdeburg moved into new community rooms on Halberstädter Strasse , then on Klausener Strasse and later on Gröperstrasse .

Memory of the Old Synagogue

memorial

In memory of the synagogue, a memorial created by Josef Bzdok was unveiled on the old synagogue square on November 9, 1988 . The area around the monument, which belonged to Julius-Bremer-Straße, was named in May 1999 as the place “ An der Alten Synagoge ”. In the same year, the parliamentary group of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen planted a tree there to commemorate.

See also

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Churches and monasteries in Magdeburg . City of Magdeburg, Office for Public Relations and Protocol, Magdeburg 2000.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutsche Bauzeitung , Volume 28, 1894, No. 50 (from June 23, 1894), p. 312.
  2. ^ Krenzke, Churches and Monasteries in Magdeburg, page 92.

Web links

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

Coordinates: 52 ° 7 ′ 59.2 ″  N , 11 ° 38 ′ 12.1 ″  E