Synagogue (Baden)

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The Baden synagogue after the renovation
The outer wall of the synagogue with the names of the Jewish communities in Lower Austria before 1938

The Baden Synagogue is a partially destroyed but rebuilt synagogue located in Baden near Vienna .

history

A public prayer house was first built on the property in the center of Baden, which the Israelite Sick Support Association acquired in 1870 . After this very soon proved to be inadequate for the needs of the community and the Jewish spa guests, a large synagogue, the so-called temple, was planned and built from 1872 to 1873 by the Baden city architect Franz Breyer. The main room consisted of two floors. The ceiling was made of steel girders and cast iron columns that are still preserved today.

In August 1913, reports were made of a rapidly progressing new construction of the temple building, of which the western front can already be viewed from the outside ; the inauguration was expected for autumn 1914.

Until the " Anschluss of Austria ", the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Baden was the third largest Jewish community in Austria.

As early as the summer of 1938, the interior of the synagogue was destroyed and the building was taken over by the National Socialist People's Welfare . Because of this and because of its location to the neighboring fire brigade, the temple was spared further destruction and pillage during the November pogrom . The property was acquired by the municipality of Baden after the dissolution of the religious community. After the Second World War , the building was used by the Soviet occupation soldiers as a team kitchen and was later returned to the Jewish community.

The Jewish community of Baden , as it is called today, initially lacked the means to restore the synagogue. Initially, church services were held in the Esplanade sanatorium in Baden, and in 1963 an outbuilding was adapted as a prayer house. In May 1988, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien submitted an application to the city administration of Baden to demolish the temple area in Grabengasse . An initiative led by Elie Rosen and Georg Chaimowicz prevented the building from being demolished that same year. After long negotiations, the city of Baden, the state of Lower Austria and the federal government took over the costs for the renovation and redesign of the building.

Although the galleries of the so-called women's department had been closed in 1938 by the National Socialists , the original condition was no longer restored. The reason was the significantly lower number of members of the Jewish community, which is why the space was no longer needed. Instead, the center for intercultural encounters and understanding as well as offices of the religious community were set up on the first floor .

On September 15, 2005, the synagogue was reopened thanks to sustained efforts by the President of the Baden Jewish Community, Elie Rosen . Today it has 75 male and 40 female seats, which are separated by a privacy screen. The center for intercultural encounters has a stage and space for 170 people and has experienced numerous concerts and lectures since it was founded.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Correspondence. (...) The new building of the local (...). In:  Badener Zeitung , August 16, 1913, p. 7, top right. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / bzt
  2. ↑ Viktor Wallner : From the commandant's office to the congress casino. 50 years of bathing in data and images. 1945-1995 . New Badener Blätter, Volume 6.1. Publishing house of the Society of Friends of Baden and the Municipal Collections, Baden 1993, Permalink Austrian Library Association , p. 59.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The request for demolition was later restricted to the neighboring house of the prayer house . - Wallner: Von der Kommandantur , p. 59.

Web links

Commons : Synagoge (Baden)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 0 ′ 26 ″  N , 16 ° 14 ′ 8 ″  E