Main Synagogue (Mannheim)

Main synagogue around 1895

Interior around 1855

The main synagogue was a synagogue of the Jewish community in Mannheim . It was erected between 1851 and 1855 instead of several previous buildings and destroyed during the November pogroms in 1938 .

history

In the Thirty Years' War Mannheim, as large parts of the Palatinate destroyed. Elector Karl Ludwig promoted the reconstruction of the city, in which the settlement of Jews was advertised. The concession of 1660 allowed a school , i.e. a synagogue, with its own rabbi . There is evidence that a synagogue existed in 1662 and a new building was built in F2, 13/15 , the location of the later main synagogue. A short time later, Mannheim was again devastated in the Palatinate War of Succession , so that in 1700 the construction of a new synagogue was necessary. In the course of time the building was expanded several times, so in 1767 a women's school was mentioned for the first time. A description of the synagogue has come down to us from 1824: “A wall with a railing encloses the associated forecourt opposite the street. In the background is the building in a simple style, with some Hebrew inscriptions. Inside you can see the facility that conforms to Jewish laws. In the middle are the chairs of the cantor with decorations. The women have their own school, from which barred windows go into the main school in order to hide them from the eyes of men and so that no part disturbs the others in the prayer. "

The small synagogue became a problem for the growing Jewish community. The places were in the hands of long-established families and were passed on, so that newcomers hardly had a chance to get a place. Because of this, the synagogue was torn down in 1851 and construction began in June of the same year. Ludwig Lendorff had drawn up the plans . After his death in February 1853, Friedrich Eisenlohr succeeded him and finally Heinrich Lang , who had already been involved in the building supervision between the two. On June 29, 1855, the new synagogue was inaugurated by Rabbi Moses Präger . The Torah scrolls were placed in the Holy Ark accompanied by a cantata composed by Hermann Levi and conducted by Vinzenz Lachner . The synagogue was modernized in 1897–99 and 1907/08. Since there were other synagogues in Mannheim, such as the Lemle-Moses-Klaus der Orthodoxe in F1, 11 and a synagogue in Feudenheim , which was later incorporated , it was called the main synagogue.

By the 1920s the number of parishioners tripled, so that on the 75th anniversary in 1930 the Synagogue Council was hopeful that it would be able to build a new synagogue after the global economic crisis . In the year of the takeover of the Nazis in 1933, however, the first time raided SA -Men to the main synagogue and taught damage. On the night of the pogrom on November 10, 1938, SA men stormed the main synagogue in the morning, they smashed the facility, set fire and set off explosives. The police refused to come to the rescue, the fire brigade limited themselves to protecting the neighboring buildings. Then there was looting by the population. The Jewish community now held their services in the less damaged Klau synagogue and in late summer 1939 was forced to “sell” the ruins of the main synagogue and the property to the city administration for 34,000 Reichsmarks.

Memorial plaque in F2

During the Second World War , the ruin suffered further destruction before it was transferred to the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO) after the war in 1945 . The small Jewish community set up a makeshift synagogue in the former Jewish orphanage at R7, 24. On the initiative of Mayor Hermann Heimerich , the Building Department drew up plans in 1952 that provided for clearing the interior of the main synagogue and installing a one-story prayer room. Since the state of Baden-Württemberg refused to participate financially, the project was not implemented and the planned municipal grant was used for the reconstruction of the sanctuary at the Jewish cemetery . The plan to keep the ruin as a memorial was also not implemented for financial reasons. In 1955/56 the ruins were torn down. The JRSO sold the property, which was initially used by a car dealer and built on with a residential and commercial building in 1962/63. In 1964 a memorial plaque was put up to commemorate the main synagogue.

Main synagogue around 1855

Kassel synagogue 1850

description

Square F2 is located in the western lower part of the city, a quarter in which many Mannheim Jews traditionally lived. The architecture of the main synagogue with its neo-Romanesque arches was influenced by the Kassel synagogue built in 1839 by Albrecht Rosengarten . On the one hand, the round arch style symbolized the common roots of Jews and Christians, on the other hand, the difference to the neo-Gothic style of Christian churches popular at the time was emphasized. The large arched portal with the rose window above dominated the main facade . The top edge was decorated with a row of crabs . The three-aisled basilica was already indicated from the outside by the facade structure with the two stairwells on the left and right, which led to the women's galleries.

The two-bay central nave was spanned by two domes of equal size and lined with arcades with ten columns made of black marble, which symbolized the Ten Commandments . The walls were decorated with gold arabesques - frescoes of Joseph Schwarzmann painted and the floor with a mosaic of Solnhofer stone occupied. On the east wall in the direction of Jerusalem ( Misrach ) was a polygonal apse with the Torah shrine made of Carrara marble and a lectern. There was a pulpit on the right . After the renovation in 1908, the main synagogue had 700 seats.

There had been lengthy discussions about the synagogue organ because it had previously been unusual in Jewish church services. It was not until June 1855, shortly before the synagogue was inaugurated, that the Council of the Israelites of Baden approved the instrument. Eberhard Friedrich Walcker's organ with 24 registers was the first organ in a synagogue in Baden. When it was redesigned in 1899, a new instrument with 31 registers was installed, again by the Walcker Organ Builders.

literature

Hans Huth: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Stadtkreis Mannheim Vol. 1. Munich 1982, ISBN 3-422-00556-0 , S.?.
Volker Keller: The former main synagogue in Mannheim , in: Mannheimer Hefte 1, 1982, pp. 2-14.
Karl Otto Watzinger : History of the Jews in Mannheim 1650-1945 . Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-17-008696-0 .
Volker Keller: Jewish life in Mannheim . Mannheim 1995, ISBN 3-923003-71-4 .
Christiane Twiehaus: Synagogues in the Grand Duchy of Baden (1806-1918). A study of their reception in the public media Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2012, pp. 150–173.