Synagogue (St. Pölten)
The St. Pölten Synagogue was the main synagogue of the St. Pölten Jewish Community until the November pogroms . The synagogue, built in Art Nouveau style by architects Theodor Schreier and Viktor Postelberg between 1912 and 1913 , is located in the Dr. Karl Renner Promenade in St. Pölten and is now the seat of the Institute for Jewish History in Austria .
history
The St. Pölten rabbis
Between 1863 and 1938 ten rabbis were active in St. Pölten.
| Surname | Term of office |
|---|---|
| Moritz Tintner | 1863-1869 |
| Adolf Kurrein | 1873-1876 |
| Samuel Marcus | 1876-1878 |
| Adolf Hahn | 1878-1882 |
| Jakob Reiss | 1882-1889 |
| Bernhard Zimmels | 1889-1891 |
| Leopold Weinsberg | 1891-1897 |
| Adolf Schächter | 1897-1934 |
| Arnold Frankfurter | 1934-1936 |
| Manfred Papo | 1936-1938 |
Previous buildings
The first prayer rooms of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde St.Pölten, founded in 1863, were located in the rooms of the former calico factory , which later became the Gasser factory on Schulring. A building in this factory was adapted as a synagogue between 1885 and 1890. This adaptation was associated with considerable effort, which is why the members of the religious community had been trying to build a new building since 1888, but this was rejected by the city council until 1903. At this point in time, a redesign of the promenade was planned, which was only possible by demolishing the synagogue in the planned street. After lengthy preparations, a preparatory committee was elected in April 1907 which, in addition to building site and plans, was also supposed to procure the necessary financial resources.
New building
In 1911 a building committee was elected and an exchange of land was agreed with the community. Jacob Modern , Jakob Gartner , Ignaz Reiser and Theodor Schreier took part in the architectural competition that was announced in the same year . The latter, together with his partner Viktor Postelberg, was commissioned by the committee to submit another project for a temple with space for 220 men and 150 women, which was then implemented. Rudolf Frass worked out the conditions for the planning work . The necessary funds were raised through collections and appeals for donations across the country, so that construction could begin in June 1912. The gilding work in the interior was carried out by Ferdinand Andri . After a little more than a year of construction and a total investment of 141,390 crowns , the synagogue was inaugurated on August 17, 1913.
Model of the synagogue, 1912
Elevation, facade Dr. Karl Renner Promenade
Elevation, facade of Lederergasse
Longitudinal section parallel to the Dr. Karl Renner Promenade
Ground floor plan
Floor plan gallery
Topping-out ceremony
Shell construction of the dome
destruction
During the November pogrom of 1938 on the night of November 9th to 10th, 1938, several SS and SA members broke into the synagogue, smashed window panes and started a fire that could be put out relatively quickly. The following morning, 300 to 400 people, some in civilian clothes, gathered in front of the building. They moved into the consecrated rooms while singing political songs and completely destroyed them. The windows were smashed, Torah scrolls , Torah shrine , benches and pictures were burned. Even water pipes and door posts were torn from the walls. Most of the books in the extensive library were thrown on the street and burned. Some people climbed the dome and tore the Star of David from the roof.
Almost the entire movable property of the religious community was destroyed or stolen. A few books have been brought to the city archive, in the city museum there is still a donation box and a painting by Emperor Franz Josef that hung in the entrance area. A single prayer book has been in the possession of the religious community again since 1998.
In the following years the side rooms of the building were used by the SA as an office, the interior was used as a furniture store, among other things. In 1942 the synagogue became the property of the city of St. Pölten, which used it as a reception camp for Russian forced laborers . The building was further damaged in the last fighting and bombing raids in 1945.
Situation after 1945
The Red Army used the former synagogue as a granary until it was returned to the city in 1947. The restitution application was recognized in 1952 by the city administration, which then returned the synagogue to the IKG Vienna . In the following years, the former church fell into disrepair, as no Jewish community was able to establish itself in St. Pölten after the Holocaust . The dome roof showed severe damage, individual components threatened to collapse completely, and rain and snow penetrated the house, which was populated by pigeons, through the paneled windows.
In 1975 the IKG Vienna offered the synagogue to the city of St. Pölten for sale, but the offer was not accepted due to the lack of possible uses. After that, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien wanted to have the building demolished, but this was prevented by the fact that the Federal Monuments Office placed the building under monument protection. It was then renovated from 1980 to 1984. For example, many wall paintings were restored, but on the other hand, some structural changes were also made (e.g. dismantling of the water basins for ritual hand washing ), since it was clear from the beginning that the building would no longer be used as a synagogue, but as an event center.
The Institute for Jewish History of Austria has been located in the former synagogue since 1988 , and events are held regularly. The synagogue could no longer fulfill its original function because too few Jews were able to return to St. Pölten after the Holocaust .
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the synagogue, the City Museum dedicated a special exhibition to the building in 2013/14. For the first time, a recently found photo of the interior before the destruction was shown. It was also pointed out that the synagogue is already in a certain state of decay due to a lack of financial means.
Entrance with the memorial plaque for Theodor and Anna Schreier
Information board
Memorial in front of the synagogue in memory of the victims of the persecution of the Jews
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Building description
Outside
The dominant element of the synagogue is the octagonal main wing, closed off by a large dome, to which east and west side wings are connected. The former school building at Lederergasse 12 is connected to the synagogue .
Main wing
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The main wing houses the former cult room. The facade is divided into a low ground floor, a high upper floor and the dome. On the street-side facade there are three windows on each of the two floors, which are designed as low segmental arched windows with jagged cordon cornice running over them. The windows on the upper floor, on the other hand, are tall, rectangular windows, the space between them is divided by pilaster strips . The originally colored windows were destroyed from 1938, today there are clear glass panes in the windows. Directly under the dome is a large segmented gable with representations of the tablets of the law , framed in floral tendrils . Below is the text of Psalm 118, verse 19 in Hebrew script:
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| - Inscription under the tablets of the law. | |
"Open the gates of righteousness for me, I want to enter and thank God."
On the short, sloping walls of the main wing there are side entrances on the ground floor, while large, oval windows are embedded in the transition to the dome .
Side wings
The former school building adjoins the eastern side wing, which is very narrow compared to the western one and once housed the shrine. In the wing, which is closed off by a segmented gable and barrel roof , there is a high, rectangular window of the same design as that of the main wing on the north front on the upper floor. A round window is let into the eastern side, and a connecting room to the school building begins on the ground floor.
The western side wing is basically identical to the eastern one, but it is significantly wider. In addition, there are entrance buildings in front of it. Both on the street side and on the opposite side, between the main wing and the western annex, there are cantilevered, semicircular staircases , next to them there is a risalit with two low windows up to half the height of the first floor. On the street side, this risalit is preceded by a ground-level porch, which is arched open on three sides. The building, which is completed with a triangular gable, ends in a concave enclosure on which a memorial plaque is now attached. The west facade repeats the design of the main wing, there are low segmental arched windows on the ground floor with jagged cordon cornices running across them. In contrast, the windows on the upper floor are significantly lower than in the main wing.
Former school building
The former school building has its main facade in the direction of Lederergasse and has house number 12 there. The street-side main facade of the two-storey building is divided into four axes. The windows on the ground floor are arched, those on the upper floor are rectangular. Between the side wing of the synagogue and the main wing of the school building there is a tower-like, semicircular staircase leading up to the top floor.
Wall lamp
Wall ornament
Wall ornament
Wall ornament
literature
- Institute for the History of the Jews in Austria (Ed.): To restore history? St. Pölten's Jewish past. St. Pölten 2000, OCLC 470702553 .
- Thomas Karl u. a .: The art monuments of the city of St. Pölten and its incorporated localities (= Austrian art topography . Volume 54). Berger, Horn 1999, ISBN 3-85028-310-0 , pp. 273–276: Chapter former Synagogue and former residential and school building of the Israelite religious community St. Pölten .
- Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.): The art monuments of Austria - Lower Austria south of the Danube, in two parts. Part 2: M – Z. Verlag Berger, Horn 2003 ISBN 3-85028-365-8 . Chapter Former Synagogue, pp. 1997-1998.
Web links
- New synagogue in Memorbuch - Jews in St. Pölten
- Institute for Jewish History in Austria (now housed in the synagogue)
- Christoph Lind : Lower Austria 1938: Synagogues, prayer houses and rooms , David, online edition
Individual evidence
- ^ Albert Leicht: Temple consecration. St. Pölten, August 18th. In: The Truth . No. 33/1913, August 22, 1913, Vienna 1913, ZDB -ID 2176231-4 , p. 7 (report on the temple consecration on August 17, 1913; sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de [accessed on March 2 2019]).
- ^ Karl Gutkas : St. Pölten - Becoming and essence of an Austrian city. 2nd Edition. Magistrate of the City of St. Pölten, St. Pölten 1970, OCLC 867952378 , p. 55.
- ↑ God and Emperor. 100 years of the former synagogue St. Pölten on the website of the St. Pölten City Museum, accessed on March 2, 2019.
- ↑ Psalm 118 : 19 OT .
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 9 ″ N , 15 ° 37 ′ 44 ″ E