Great Synagogue (Danzig)
Coordinates: 54 ° 20 ′ 53.1 ″ N , 18 ° 38 ′ 51.2 ″ E
The Great Synagogue of Gdansk was the largest synagogue in the city, built between 1885 and 1887 on what was then Reitbahnstrasse (today's Bogusławskiego Street). It was planned for 2000 worshipers and designed in the neo-renaissance style. It was inaugurated on September 15, 1887 by the Danzig Rabbi Cossmann Werner .
From April 1939 the synagogue was destroyed at the instigation of the Danzig authorities.
architecture
The synagogue was built on the basis of a long rectangle based on plans by Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Böckmann in the Neo-Renaissance style , borrowing from the Moorish style of the Alhambra . With a large dome , two towers and the lighting at night, it was one of the most distinctive buildings in Gdansk. The window in the middle of the front of the building showed stained glass with the Star of David and all the spiers also had Stars of David.
The spacious interior of the building was vaulted by a dome from which huge chandeliers hung. The great hall was directly under the dome. The Torah shrine was set up on a pedestal behind a parochet curtain in an apse . Above the Torah shrine was a plaque with the Ten Commandments , which was supported by two stone lions. Behind the Torah shrine was a large organ and room for the choir with its 100 members. The lectern, the Bima , stood behind the pedestal.
More than 2000 parishioners were able to attend the service. In the main room there were two rows of pews for more than 1,600 worshipers. Along the side walls and above the west entrance there were massive galleries for more than 300 women , supported by angular columns . The walls were decorated with plant motifs, geometric symbols and biblical verses.
The synagogue was electrically heated and lit, which was still unusual at the end of the 19th century.
history
Beginnings
The synagogue was financed by the four reform parishes in Old Scotland, Old Scotland (Weinberger Gemeinde), Langfuhr , and Breitgasse and built by the Berlin company Ende and Boeckmann selected by the city council .
It was opened with a celebration in the presence of the community and the city council on September 15, 1887 by the Danzig Rabbi Werner Kossman. The Torah scrolls from the Old Synagogue and two other synagogues were placed in the Torah shrine and the eternal light was lit. The new Great Synagogue was seen as a building for the unification of all Gdańsk Jews. The first service took place on December 8, 1887. The painting was done in 1899 by the Berlin painter Julius Bodenstein .
At the beginning of the 20th century, the synagogue had become a well-known center of Reform Judaism. A large museum of Judaism had many rare and ancient items, including the collection of Lesser Giełdziński . Concerts were also held in the building. Rabbis and scholars from all over the world gave lectures here.
In 1927, another synagogue in the city, the New Synagogue, was completed in the Langfuhr district.
The rise of anti-Semitism
In the 1920s, anti-Semitism increased and the NSDAP gained increasing power in Germany. Danzig was still strongly connected to Germany, although after the Treaty of Versailles it was officially subject to the League of Nations as a Free City . Gdansk became increasingly an unpleasant place to stay for the Jewish population, which became even more pronounced after the Gdansk branch of the National Socialist Party assumed political responsibility in March 1933.
As a result, the synagogue was twice targeted by arson attacks. Both attacks were foiled by the militia set up by the Jewish population to protect the building. Although the Constitution of the Free City of Danzig gave Gdansk Jews greater protection than their fellow believers in Germany, sympathizers of the National Socialists broke into the synagogue in August 1938 and crushed the Torah scrolls. The heads of the Kehillas decided to save the still intact documents and had the archives moved to Jerusalem , the library to Vilnius and the museum holdings to the United States. At the same time, the synagogue had to sell the organ to Cracow , the candlesticks to Warsaw and the benches to the Neufahrwasser district of Gdańsk due to demands from the financial authorities .
The Great Synagogue is demolished
In the spring of 1939 the synagogue was sold to the Senate of the City of Danzig. The last service was celebrated in the building on April 15, 1939, and a short time later the city's Senate began its work: A banner with the text “Come on, May and set us free from Jews” was placed on the fence around the building hung up and a banner with the announcement of the demolition attached to the facade. From May 2nd, the government ruled by the National Socialists had the building demolished.
The end of the Jewish community
After the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, military units of the German Reich also moved into the city, put down all resistance and occupied the city for the German Reich. In the Holocaust , many Jews were murdered Danziger. Since the end of the war, Danzig has been under Polish sovereignty as Gdańsk and many of the survivors left Europe to settle in Israel.
The synagogue site is currently not in use. Parts of the site belong to the new Jewish community in Gdańsk, other parts belong to Urząd Ochrony Państwa , the Polish State Guard, and the rest of the site is planned to be used as a theater. Realistic plans for rebuilding the synagogue are not known.
See also
swell
- The New Synagogue in Danzig / Gdansk History, background and interesting facts about Danzig
- Żydzi na Pomorzu (Jews in Pomerania) (Polish)
Web links
- Wielka Synagoga - history and photos (Polish)
- Great Synagogue - New photos of the remains of the building
Individual evidence
- ^ Püttner, Elise: Little Guide through Danzig, former free imperial and Hanseatic city, now capital of the province of West Prussia , AW Kafemann, Danzig, 1901, p. 12.
- ^ Püttner, Elise: Danzig and the most outstanding cities of the province , Danzig 1906, p. 26.