Jewish community center (Brandenburg an der Havel)
The Jewish community center in Brandenburg an der Havel is synagogue and community center of the Jewish community of the city. The building at Große Münzenstrasse 15 is a listed building, a memorial and is directly linked to the history of Judaism in Brandenburg an der Havel .
History of Judaism in the city of Brandenburg
Until 1933
| year | Jews in the city of Brandenburg until 1945 |
|---|---|
| 1720 | 5 families |
| 1788 | 19 families |
| 1809 | 15 families |
| 1827 | 132 |
| 1840 | 127 |
| 1850 | 162 |
| 1860 | 200 |
| 1893 | 209 |
| 1909 | 288 |
| 1926 | 480 |
| 1929 | 310 |
| 1933 | approx. 200 |
| 1939 | 199 |
| 1942 | 0 (?) |
| 1945 | 10 |
Several Jewish families were already settled in the two cities of Altstadt and Neustadt in the early 14th century . The Jewish residents were subordinate to the Margrave of the Mark Brandenburg . A synagogue existed in Neustadt as early as 1322. A Jewish cemetery was located southeast of the city fortifications.
1348-1349 there was Pestpogromen and expulsion of Jewish residents of both cities. However, only a few decades later, Jews primarily settled in Neustadt. In 1510, in the course of an alleged desecration of the host in Berlin, Jews from the cities were probably killed at the stake . Furthermore, in this context there was again an extensive expulsion. About two decades later, around 1530, Jews settled again, but in 1571, like all Jews, they were again expelled from the Mark Brandenburg. This expulsion meant the total cessation of Jewish community life for about a hundred years. It was not until the late 17th century that a Jewish family expelled from Vienna was allowed to resettle again following an edict by the elector . In the early 18th century the number of Jewish residents grew, so that in 1729 a new synagogue community was founded. In 1747 the community laid out the new Jewish cemetery ( Jewish cemetery in Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse ), the oldest tombstone of which was recorded in 1756.
An edict from 1671 prohibited the Jews from building a synagogue. The Prussian king tied the condition that the Jewish community had to purchase a certain amount of porcelain from the Royal Porcelain Manufactory on the permission to build a synagogue . Due to financial difficulties, a first house of prayer could not be set up in the Große Münzenstrasse until 1782 . This was expanded several times in the first half of the 19th century. In 1840 the community cemetery was also expanded.
The community adhered to the Orthodox rite until the middle of the 19th century . After the introduction of a new synagogue order in 1860, worship was reformed. In 1883 the existing prayer house in the Große Münzenstrasse was demolished and a larger synagogue was built in its place on the back of the property at number 15. It was built from brick in the neo-Romanesque style and had a Moorish dome . The synagogue was from from Wroclaw originating builder Julius Nathanson built. The building provided space for around 170 believers.
In the early 20th century, most of the Jews in Brandenburg an der Havel were merchants . After the establishment of the large hospital facility, the Görden State Institution set up its own Jewish cemetery for deceased patients in the early 1920s . During the 19 years of its operation, 46 people were buried here. In the mid-1920s, the Jewish population and the size of the community reached their all-time highs. However, in the course of the global economic crisis there was already a strong migration.
Nazi era
With the seizure of power by the Nazis worsened the situation for the Jews of the city. As early as 1933 there were major boycotts of Jewish businesses. On the night of November 9th to 10th, 1938, the Reichskristallnacht , the church was first looted by the Nazis during the pogroms and then burned down. The parish hall in front of the synagogue remained undamaged. The arson was carried out by the Brandenburg fire brigade . She started the fire with accelerator , gasoline. Furthermore, she was commissioned to protect only the neighboring houses. The organizer of the destruction and anti-Semitic attacks was Wilhelm Sievers , the city's mayor at the time. During the pogroms, Rabbi Josef Rosenzweig and the Chasan , who both lived in the front building, were badly mistreated. Jewish residents of the city were also arrested and humiliated. The city's Jewish cemetery was also desecrated and the mourning hall devastated. After the ruins of the synagogue were torn down, only the southern outer wall remained. It was integrated into the playground of a neighboring school, the later Frederic Joliot Curie School .
Some of the Jewish residents of Brandenburg managed to get to safety by fleeing abroad. Most of them, however, stayed and were deported to extermination camps in the following years . The last members of the Jewish community still living in the city were deported on April 13, 1942. Of the 200 Jews who lived in Brandenburg an der Havel in 1933, only about ten survived in the city.
After 1945
In 1951 a memorial was set up on the site of the Jewish cemetery, which was destroyed by bombs in the last weeks of the war . A memorial plaque was installed on which the names of the city's Jewish citizens murdered during the Nazi era were noted. The preserved outer wall of the destroyed synagogue in the playground of the Frederic-Joliot-Curie School also became a memorial. A memorial plaque was also placed there.
Until the 1990s, the Jewish community, which has been using the parish hall for church services and as a religious center since the end of the war, remained small. Only through Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union did the community grow again. In 2006, around 100 Jews lived in the city again. In 2010 there were around 160. A foundation owned by Jonathan Spielman , who lives in New York City , financed a new Torah for the Jewish community .
Parish hall
The Jewish community center is a two-story, four-axis plastered building. It is traufständig the Great Coins road. The outer right, the northernmost axis with the entrance and a window on the upper floor forms a slightly protruding side elevation . Access is via a stone step. The lettering "Salve" is incorporated into this. In addition to the risalit as a vertical division of the facade, this is also divided horizontally in various ways. There are several cornices and strips of plaster . The rectangular windows of the basement have a profiled border that suspects the upper floor . In the course of a modernization, a two-axis gable dormer clad with sheet metal was incorporated in the attic . The roof is covered with red beaver tails .
A memorial plaque was installed to the left of the entrance to the building. On this it is written:
“… On the night of November 9, 1938, the National Socialists, under the leadership of the Lord Mayor of Brandenburg an der Havel, burned down the Brandenburg synagogue. In the following years, Rabbi Josef Rosenzweig Sel.A., who lived in this house, was arrested and murdered in Auschwitz in 1942. His former Jewish community was completely wiped out ... "
A second stone plaque is attached to the right of the entrance, in which the menorah and "Jewish community" in German and "קהילהיהוךית בית כנסת" in Hebrew is engraved.
Inside the house there are rooms over three floors that are used by the community in various ways. These are each designed individually. The prayer room , in which the Torah is stored, is located in the attic . A hall for events and a library are set up on the upper floor . The walls of the community hall are papered with the names of cities with Jewish communities around the world. Another hall is on the ground floor.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ memorial plaque
- ^ Brandenburg / Havel (Brandenburg) . From the history of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Accessed March 20, 2016.
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 36.5 ″ N , 12 ° 33 ′ 42.9 ″ E