Synagogue Duisburg

Synagogue and community center of the Jewish community Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen , in the Duisburg inner harbor

View between the five concrete walls

The Duisburg synagogue was built according to plans by the architect Zvi Hecker . After more than two years of construction, it was inaugurated on February 21, 1999. For over 2,800 members, it is the center of the Jewish community in Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen.

General

In the years before the new building was built, the community grew very strongly due to immigration from the states of the former Soviet Union. This increase in membership made it necessary to move from the small makeshift Mülheim community center in Kampstrasse and to build a new larger community center. The new building was financed to one third each by the Jewish community, the three cities of Duisburg , Mülheim an der Ruhr and Oberhausen and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia .

The Jewish community in Duisburg can be traced back to 1793. The city's first synagogue was located on Burgplatz in the house of a Leiser Moses. In 1826 the Jewish community inaugurated the old anatomy building of the university for conversion as a synagogue. On March 6, 1875, the community had a new synagogue built on Duisburg's Junkerstrasse. The synagogue located at the inner harbor of Duisburg gives - through the alignment of one of its axes - architectural references to this old, large Duisburg synagogue, which was located in the immediate vicinity of the current location.

It was shared with two other meeting rooms of the neighborhoods Hamborn and Ruhrort during the pogroms on November 9, 1938 by the Nazis burned down. The National Socialist Lord Mayor Hermann Freytag then asked the Jewish community in Duisburg to demolish the church, which had burned down to the foundations.

architecture

The glass atrium

The monolithic synagogue has the shape of a fanned out book, stylistically combining the shape of a star with the shape of a book page. The usable area is around 1,600 m², divided into the actual synagogue - with the front wall facing east - and a large hall with a stage connected by a glass atrium. There is also a library, offices, classrooms, three apartments and the rooms of the children's and youth center. The five exposed reinforced concrete arches make various references to Jewish culture and history, including the Pentateuch and the five locations of the community from the 13th century in Duisburg. They can also be interpreted as the five fingers of an open hand, which symbolize the openness of Judaism. Some of the roofs of the synagogue are green and correspond to the neighboring Garden of Remembrance by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan .

Opposite is Yitzhak Rabin Square, which his widow Leah Rabin opened with the words: "My husband was murdered in one square, here is the square that stands for reconciliation."

Misrachstein

Festival of the Jewish Book

The Festival of the Jewish Book , launched in 2006, aims to present aspects of Jewish literature in the broadest sense as broadly as possible. This gives both Jewish and non-Jewish people an insight into this world. And because the architecture of this synagogue itself is an “open book”, the building seems almost predestined for it. The Jewish people have created rich literature in attempting to keep in touch with the message of hope even in dire straits. From the ten commandments on Mount Sinai to the testimonies from the Shoah , the Hebrew script holds the history of this people together.

The festival of the Jewish book usually takes place in March of each year. In 2009, Gilles Rozier read the section devoted to Francophonie , partly in Yiddish . Robert Schindel read poems from "Wundwurzel". In 2010 Vladimir Vertlib was there again; and Oleg Yuriev read.

Family and youth work

The commitment in the field of family and youth work of the Jewish community Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen extends to all three member cities. Both the office with the management and the Tikwatejnu children and youth center are located on the premises of the community center in Duisburg . Tikwatejnu is Hebrew and translates as "Our Hope". But there are also offices and rooms in Mülheim and Oberhausen in order to be able to do successful family and youth work.

See also: Jewish Culture Days in the Rhineland - events in the western Ruhr area take place there.

Individual evidence

1. ^ "For many years I dreamed of Duisburg at night" - Jewish life in Duisburg from 1918 to 1945, 2015, Museum of Culture and City History Duisburg, Verlagshaus Wohlfahrt GmbH
2. ↑ http://www.duisburgnonstop.de/site_de/index.php?page=show_cityguide&category_id=26&aid=137 (accessed in August 2008)
3. ↑ http://www.duisburgnonstop.de/site_de/index.php?page=show_cityguide&aid=37 (accessed in August 2008)
4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed August 2008) 

Web links

Commons : Synagoge Duisburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Jewish Community of Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen : www.JGDuisburg.de
• Website of the Tikwatejnu Children's and Youth Center of the Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen Jewish Community: www.tikwatejnu.de
• Family work website of the Jewish community Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen: www.familien-jugedu.de
• Website Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Duisburg-Mülheim-Oberhausen : [1]
• Description of this sight on the route of industrial culturehttp: //vorlage.rik.test/~26~12606

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 18 ″  N , 6 ° 45 ′ 57 ″  E