Jewish community center with synagogue Regensburg

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The new community center after completion in 2018

The Regensburg Jewish Community Center with Synagogue is the new community center of the “Regensburg Jewish Community”. It was inaugurated on February 27, 2019, 80 years after the destruction of the New Synagogue and exactly 500 years after the expulsion of the Jews from the imperial city of Regensburg . It was built on the property "Am Brixener Hof 2", on which the New Synagogue stood until the pogrom of November 1938 and on which there was only a provisional community hall after the Second World War .

prehistory

Construction of the New Synagogue

Drawing of the synagogue with the parish hall

At the beginning of the 19th century and after the decree of the Bavarian Jewish edict of 1813 , the Jewish population in Regensburg had grown significantly. The former Steyerer patrician house in the so-called Wollerhaus in Unteren Bachgasse 5 served as a synagogue, but it was in a bad state of disrepair . Therefore, in 1904 , the Jewish community acquired a plot of land in Schäffnerstrasse (later renamed to “Am Brixener Hof”) to build a new synagogue. After the partial collapse of the ceiling in the prayer room of the previously used synagogue, planning was accelerated.

After a few unsuccessful planning attempts, Joseph Koch submitted a new design for a synagogue in 1910, which was approved. When the preliminary designs were expanded and completed, construction began in early 1911. The synagogue was inaugurated on August 29, 1912, and the non-Jewish population also took part. In his address, the incumbent mayor Otto Geßler proclaimed the protection of the synagogue at all times by the city of Regensburg.

To the west of the synagogue, a parish hall was built at the same time according to plans by the same architect. It served as an official residence for the cantor , the cult servant and the caretaker .

Destruction of the synagogue in the night of the Reichspogrom

Memorial plaque for the destruction of the synagogue (1938)

On the night of November 9-10 , 1938, the synagogue was set on fire by a detachment of NSKK men and burned down completely. Extinguishing work was only allowed to be carried out on the orders of the then mayor Otto Schottenheim , who was personally present on site, to protect the adjacent buildings. The parish hall has been preserved to this day. The ruins of the synagogue were completely torn down in the following months. The development therefore had a vacant lot. The parish hall and the adjacent empty property were used for the deportation of Jews who had to gather there.

Provisional after the war

Entrance to the community hall from 1971

The parish hall was preserved until the end of the war in 1945 and was used again by the newly emerging Jewish community. Until 2019 there were meeting rooms of different sizes for the Jewish community and a small prayer room as a synagogue replacement with a Torah shrine . The Jewish ritual bath is also located in the basement of the house .

From 1968 to 1971 a prayer and parish hall was built as a low-rise in a modern style on the empty synagogue site. This interim solution was demolished before the new community center was built.

New construction of the community center

Foundation of the friends' association

On November 15, 2013, an association was founded with the name “Förderverein Neue Regensburg Synagoge”. Reasons for this non-profit association were the strong growth of the Jewish community to over 1000 members, the desire to renovate the Jewish center - synagogue, cultural areas and administrative offices - and the creation of a prominent, clearly visible place next to the cathedral and the Neupfarrkirche to reflect the role of Judaism as one of the three historically significant religious communities in Regensburg's history.

Up until the inauguration, the friends' association raised almost one million euros in funding for the new construction of the community center.

financing

Three-stage gold-plated bronze spiral by Tom Kristen: Rose Ausländer's poem Together .

The total costs of the community center added up to around 7.5 million euros. The new building cost around five million euros and the renovation of the old one a good two million euros. The Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research in the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning supported the project with a grant of 3.3 million euros, the City of Regensburg made a contribution of 2 million euros. The Regensburg Jewish Community had to raise the rest of the construction costs from its own resources.

buildings

inside view

The Jewish Community Center, which is connected to the old community house, consists of three large parts:

  • Community hall : The new community hall, which is designed for 200 visitors, is located on the ground floor. It is a multi-purpose room for various community activities, which is also open to the non-Jewish public for events.
  • Synagogue : The architect placed the two-storey synagogue above the community hall, which has a kind of dome at the top, through whose light openings a special way of illuminating the interior is achieved. This is largely lined with wood. The lower part, the prayer area for around 100 men, contains the Torah shrine and the bima . The upper part is the women's gallery, which offers space for 60 people.
  • Rooms and library : The community center can be reached via a security gate. The new library is open to the public. There are also a number of useful rooms: a reading and study room for young people and students, meeting rooms, a playroom for children, a classroom for Hebrew courses and Torah studies, kitchens for the strictly kosher preparation and storage of food, etc.

Object of art: The small inner courtyard in front of the main entrance of the community center is adorned by a three-tier gilded bronze spiral by the artist Tom Kristen, which consists of the lines from Rose Ausländer's poem Together . The multi-vaulted wooden ceiling consists of thin wooden rods. These were bent under the influence of steam, cut, glued on site on the same day and thus combined into a cantilevered ceiling of 25 meters.

inauguration

Gabriele Inge throne reported in the Sunday paper over the essential part of the inauguration, the transmission of Torah scrolls in the new Ark of the synagogue:

“The new synagogue in Regensburg was inaugurated on Wednesday with great joy and pride. Three rabbis carried the Torah scrolls from the old prayer room into the Torah cabinet of the new synagogue: with this symbolic act and cheerful chants, they completed the consecration of the new church. 'It is with great joy and excitement that we announce that we can witness the wonderful event that the synagogue, which was destroyed 80 years ago, has risen from the ashes,' said Rabbi Josef Chaim Bloch from Regensburg. While the rabbi was singing his blessings, men with kippahs kissed the Torah scrolls to klezmer music. "

See also

literature

  • Karl Bauer : Regensburg. From art, culture and moral history. 4th edition. Mittelbayerische Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 1988, ISBN 3-921114-00-4 , esp. Pp. 126–129.
  • Barbara Beuys : Home and Hell - Jewish life in Europe through two millennia. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1996, ISBN 3-498-00590-1 .
  • Herbert E. Brekle : The Regensburg Ghetto. Photo impressions from the excavations. Mittelbayerische Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 1997, ISBN 3-931904-17-2 .
  • Christoph Daxelmüller : The rediscovered world of the Regensburg Jews of the Middle Ages. In: Regensburger Almanach 1996. MZ Buchverlag, Regensburg 1996, ISSN  0942-6914 , pp. 146-155.
  • Arno Herzig : Jewish History in Germany. From the beginnings to the present (= Beck's series . Volume 1196). Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-47637-6 ; 2., through and updated edition. Ibid 2002, ISBN 3-406-47637-6 .
  • Barbara Eberhardt, Cornelia Berger-Dittscheid (arrangement): Regensburg. In: Wolfgang Kraus, Berndt Hamm, Meier Schwarz (eds.): More than stones ... Synagogue memorial volume Bavaria. Volume I: Upper Franconia - Upper Palatinate - Lower Bavaria - Upper Bavaria - Swabia. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2007, ISBN 978-3-89870-411-3 , pp. 261–285 ( limited preview in Google book search).

Web links

Commons : Jewish Community Center Regensburg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Reindl: City and mother in Israel. In: Jewish history and culture in Regensburg. City of Regensburg, Regensburg 1989, ISBN 3-925753-11-7 , pp. 88-91.
  2. ^ Andreas Angerstorfer , Cornelia Berger-Dittscheid, Hans-Christoph Berger: Lost temples. Synagogues in Regensburg from 1788 to 1938. In: Preservation of monuments in Regensburg. Volume 10. Regensburg 2006, ISBN 3-930480-95-6 , pp. 112-141.
  3. ^ Association. In: synagoge-regensburg.de, accessed on March 2, 2019 (Förderverein Neue Regensburger Synagoge).
  4. ^ House of the New Beginning, accessed on March 5, 2019.
  5. ^ House of the New Beginning, accessed on March 5, 2019.
  6. ↑ Synagogue is very fascinating. Report. In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . September 10, 2019, vol. 75, No. 209, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Gabriele Inge throne: inauguration of the new synagogue. In: sonntagsblatt.de, February 28, 2019, accessed on March 2, 2019.

Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 3 ″  N , 12 ° 5 ′ 59 ″  E