Jewish community in Oldenburg

Synagogue (formerly Baptist Chapel)

The Jewish Community of Oldenburg ( JGO for short ) is a Jewish community in the city of Oldenburg , which was newly founded in 1992.

history

Precursor communities

The first land rabbi, Nathan Marcus Adler

A Jewish synagogue community had existed in Oldenburg since the beginning of the 19th century, and the associated cemetery was opened in 1814. In 1827, the first regional rabbinate in the Duchy of Oldenburg was established in the royal seat under Grand Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig ; the first state rabbi was Nathan Marcus Adler , who was then only 25 . The first known synagogue was located in a private house on Mühlenstrasse from 1829 to 1854, where the rabbi also lived. Grand Duke Nikolaus Friedrich Peter laid the foundation stone for a new synagogue and school building on Peterstraße in 1854 . In 1905 it was inaugurated again after extensive expansion and renovation. This synagogue was destroyed in November 1938; At the same time, the then regional rabbi Leo Trepp was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp together with other Jewish men . Their wives and children met the same fate some time later. The cemetery on Dedestrasse still exists today, but it is considered a historical cemetery where funerals no longer take place.

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the community was reorganized. Under the chairmanship of Adolf de Beer, a prayer room was initially set up in Cäcilienstraße, later the community center was relocated to Lambertistraße. However, due to a lack of members, the congregation dissolved again at the end of 1960. Although there were still Jews in Oldenburg at that time, they had to drive as far as Hanover in order to attend a church service.

Founding of today's church

The history of the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Oldenburg goes back to 1983. The initiative for the new foundation came mainly from women who were believers. It started with a group of three people, an Israeli living in Oldenburg, Renee van Vugt and two Oldenburgers, Uta Preiss Ihle and Björn Ihle (mother and son), who decided to learn Hebrew because of their Jewish roots . In addition to the Hebrew lessons, there was also talk about Judaism and after a while people began to meet for the Jewish holidays and to celebrate them together. Over time, people with a Jewish background who lived in Oldenburg and the surrounding area began to look for and to invite them to the joint meetings. So the group got bigger and bigger, people from all areas joined the group, including Sara-Ruth Schumann , who later became chairwoman of the community .

People began to meet in a larger private room, and the “Jewish Group in Oldenburg” was founded in the late 1980s. The group turned to the then Chief Rabbi of Lower Saxony Henry G. Brandt with the request to be looked after. Rabbi Brandt came to Oldenburg once a month to supervise and teach the group until the congregation was officially re-established in 1992. The decisive factor was the desire for a place where Jewish traditions could be lived again. 16 participants signed the founding protocol of the community on August 6, 1992. This was the second attempt after the Shoah to integrate Jewish life in Oldenburg.

Again, the services initially took place in private rooms. However, the city of Oldenburg made the listed former Baptist chapel in Wilhelmsstraße (since 2013: Leo-Trepp-Straße) available to the Jewish community . After extensive renovations by the city, the building was inaugurated as a new synagogue in March 1995. The house from 1868 initially served the Order of Good Templars as a lodge house and from 1916 was temporarily used as an infection house by the neighboring Peter Friedrich Ludwigs Hospital ; later the institute for laboratory medicine was housed here until 1984. During the renovation, the found gem from the first synagogue was installed over the portal of the new church. At that time the community had already grown considerably due to the immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union . For the inauguration of the new synagogue, the former regional rabbi Leo Trepp was also present. In 2000 the parish hall next to the synagogue and the mikveh was completed and a separate cemetery was inaugurated.

Today the community has more than 300 members again.

At the end of November 2013, the Jewish cemetery on Dedestrasse was badly desecrated and smeared with swastikas and graffiti. In the cemetery , which was closed in 2000, there are around 300 graves from the years 1814 to 2014.

Responsible rabbis

Rabbi Alina Treiger

• 1992–1995: Dr. Henry G. Brandt
• 1995–2004: Bea Wyler (first woman in this position after the Holocaust)
• 2006–2008: Daniel Alter
• between 2008 and 2010 the office was temporarily from the chief rabbi of Lower Saxony Jonah Sievers transferred
• Since 2010: Alina Treiger (first female rabbi trained in Germany after 1935)

Web links

• Official web presentation of the Jewish Community of Oldenburg
• Project website of the working group memory course

literature

• Werner Meiners : Oldenburg. In: Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen. Volume II, Göttingen 2005, pages 1172–1196, ISBN 3-89244-753-5 .
• Sara-Ruth Schumann (Red.): Jewish community in Oldenburg. 1992-2002. Isensee, Oldenburg 2002, ISBN 3-89598-859-6 .
• Ekkehard Seeber (Ed.): The new synagogue and the Jewish cultural center, Wilhelmstrasse 17, in Oldenburg (Oldb). Documentation of the ceremonial handover by the city of Oldenburg on March 5, 1995 to the Jewish community in Oldenburg. Isensee, Oldenburg 1995, ISBN 3-89598-360-8 .
• Johannes-Fritz Töllner (arrangement): Oldenburg . In: The Jewish cemeteries in the Oldenburger Land. Inventory of the preserved tombstones. Holzberg, Oldenburg 1983, pages 356-487, ISBN 3-87358-181-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Timetable City / State Oldenburg , accessed on November 6, 2010.
2. ^ City of Oldenburg - Oldenburg Heads - Marcus Nathan Adler , accessed on January 31, 2012
3. ^ History of the city of Oldenburg. Volume I. p. 551
4. ↑ The history of the Oldenburg Jews and their extermination. Isensee, Oldenburg 1988, p. 57
5. ↑ City of Oldenburg - Honorary Citizen - Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Leo Trepp , accessed January 31, 2012
6. ^ Klaus Dede: Oldenburg & Ammerland . Verlag Atelier im Bauernhaus, Fischerhude 1977, p. 147
7. ↑ Jewish community in Oldenburg 1992–2002. Isensee, Oldenburg 2002, p. 5
8. ^ Ceremony for Leo Trepp's 100th birthday in Oldenburg , accessed on May 6, 2014
9. ^ The Oldenburg Synagogue , accessed on November 6, 2010.
10. ^ P. Tornow: 150 years of the Peter Friedrich Ludwigs Hospital. The history of the municipal clinics since 1784. Holzberg-Verlag, Oldenburg 1991 ISBN 3-87358-367-4
11. ^ The new synagogue and the Jewish cultural center, Wilhelmstrasse 17 in Oldenburg (Oldb). Isensee, Oldenburg 1996, p. 55
12. ↑ Jewish community in Oldenburg 1992–2002. Isensee, Oldenburg 2002, p. 16
13. ↑ www.juedischegemeinde-zu-oldenburg.de ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 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 December 12, 2011 
14. ↑ Graves in a Jewish cemetery desecrated ( Memento of the original dated December 9, 2013 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 December 6, 2013 
15. ↑ Die Zeit No. 45/2010, p. 77.