Jewish welfare center

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New construction of the welfare center

The Jewish Welfare Center is a large Jewish social institution in the former buildings of the “Israelite Asylum for the Sick and Old Age” at Ottostraße 85 in the Neuehrenfeld district of Cologne . The center looks back on an eventful and eventful history. The new and rebuilt building complex, which was moved into in 2003, now houses facilities of the Cologne synagogue community such as administration, social counseling, daycare, elementary school and a parents' home as a Jewish facility for elderly care .

history

Israelite asylum for the sick and the elderly

Silvanstrasse

The “Israelite Asylum for the Sick and the Old Age” was originally built at Silvanstrasse 10-12 in the Cologne-Altstadt-Süd district and inaugurated on January 12, 1869. The building was a gift from the five brothers Louis, Jakob, Moritz, Gustav and Julius Eltzbacher. The brothers, three lived in Cologne and two in Amsterdam , donated the hospital as well as a considerable sum for its facility in memory of their parents.

An undeveloped site between Annostraße and Silvanstraße was selected as the construction area. On March 7, 1867, the company JL Eltzbacher & Cie bought the western part of the area of ​​12,149 square feet for 6,825 thalers, 28 groschen and 6 pfennigs in “Prussian courant ”.

The simple three-story brick building was designed by the architect Hermann Peltz. There was a spacious garden behind the building, which was bordered by a wall towards Annostrasse.

The tasks of the asylum were primarily to take in poor, sick and decrepit people who were cared for free of charge upon proof, as well as, if it was in the interest of the institution and sufficient space was available, to take in sick old people who were cared for against payment were.

The asylum was predominantly Jewish, but no one was to be forced into a religious act. From the beginning the institution was open to all denominations. At times the hospital was occupied by non-Jewish patients up to 80 percent.

The rule for admission said:

“The registration of the sick and the elderly takes place in the asylum's premises. The sick have to produce a medical certificate in which the disease is named. The elderly have to enclose a brief description of their past and present living conditions with their application, as well as evidence of moral change and character and their inability to earn a living ” (§ 21).

A board of trustees took over the management of the asylum . Among other things, it decided on the admission of the sick and the elderly. The asylum was mainly there for the citizens of Cologne. The poor and the elderly outside Cologne were only accepted against payment of the care costs. The medical director of the asylum from 1885 to 1935 was the privy councilor Benjamin Auerbach, well known in Cologne .

With the increasing use of the asylum, the space was soon exhausted. In 1881 the administration first called on the citizens of Cologne to donate. The donations made it possible to purchase an adjacent site. The Cologne architect Adolf Nöcker erected an elongated three-storey building on the purchased property . A second expansion by Nöcker took place in 1889, when the garden house was connected to the front building by a 19 meter long open hall. During the expansion, the utility rooms were also enlarged, a prayer hall built and the individual stoves replaced by central heating.

In 1892, the asylum bought a neighboring house on Silvanstrasse, which was then integrated into the front building. A further major expansion of the institution was no longer possible due to the dense development around the asylum in the Severinsviertel.

Ottostrasse

Sir Ernest Cassel donated part of the financing for the new building on Ottostraße to the Jewish community

In 1901 Ernest Cassel donated 270,000 marks to the Jewish community  . This enabled the new building to be started. However, the sum was nowhere near enough to implement the planning. The asylum hoped for further funds through the sale of the property and the buildings on Silvanstrasse, as well as through further donations.

The board of trustees then looked for a suitable plot of land near the old location. Without compelling reason, they did not want to leave the Severinsviertel. However, the plots were too small and too expensive, so that the search for a suitable plot of land was extended to other parts of the city.

In 1902 the board of trustees bought a plot of land for 180,000 marks in the Cologne-Neuehrenfeld district. The 21,550 square meter site was located between Ottostraße, Nussbaumerstraße, Vorortsringstraße (later renamed Ehrenfeldgürtel) and the later planned Röntgenstraße.

The board of trustees put together a building concept that included the following buildings:

1. A retirement and infirmary house with 46 beds, 26 for old people and 20 for infirm (2 each in one room)
2. a house for 14 old age pensioners
3. a hospital for 90 beds
4. Two infection barracks with 20 beds
5. a farm building
6. a morgue
7. a polyclinic
8. a synagogue
In addition, a nurses' home, which the Association for Jewish Nurses in Cologne is building, and for an event. Future expansion of a hospital pavilion for 50 beds, another retirement home for 30 beds and another infection barracks for 10 beds.

The hospital and retirement home were inaugurated on February 19, 1908. The nurses' home was inaugurated a few days earlier.

time of the nationalsocialism

After the National Socialists came to power, the consequences of the anti-Semitic policy were also felt for the Israelite Asylum for the sick and the elderly. The health insurance companies and the welfare office only assigned non-Jewish patients to the asylum in urgent cases. The hospital lost almost half of its patients to the boycott in April 1933.

Another financial bottleneck was triggered when slaughter was banned in April 1933 with the “Law on the Slaughter of Animals” . Now the asylum had to obtain the meat of ritually slaughtered animals from abroad. Other kosher foods were also hard to come by.

During the heavy air raid on Cologne on May 31, 1942, the city hospital, among other things, was completely destroyed. The buildings of the Israelite Asylum for the sick and the elderly were only slightly damaged. The following day, the city authorities confiscated and evacuated the asylum in order to transfer patients from the destroyed city hospital. In the course of the evacuation and the subsequent relocation, the asylum archive was probably also destroyed. Only a death register was still available.

The patients, the elderly and the staff of the asylum were held in wooden barracks in the Müngersdorf camp , where many patients died due to a lack of medical care. Surviving elderly people were brought from here together with nurses, a male nurse, two doctors with their wives and the last members of the Board of Trustees on June 15, 1942 with the first large deportation from Cologne to Theresienstadt .

Further large deportations took place on July 20 and 27, 1942. For July 27, 1942, it was expressly ordered that the sick also be transported to the meeting places. It is believed that the majority of the asylum residents were abducted in July 1942.

After the war

On May 30, 1945, the site was returned to the Jewish community. The main building was repaired and the rooms were used for administration and a small prayer room. At the end of May / beginning of June, the Cologne synagogue community relocated to Ottostraße for the first time.

At the same time, in search of accommodation, Jewish refugees moved into asylum rooms without permission. Accepted by the community board, further rooms and parts of the building were repaired and the asylum became the second Jewish refugee home.

However, after the synagogue on Roonstrasse was rebuilt, a second community center was not worthwhile due to the low number of Jewish citizens. In the 1950s, the Jewish community gave up the center and the Belgian military moved into the building.

Construction of the Jewish Welfare Center

Night shot of the new building

In 1995 the Belgian troops were almost completely withdrawn from Germany. The military hospital on Ottostrasse used by the Belgian military was returned to the federal government in November. It was not possible to continue using it as a municipal or private hospital due to the poor condition of the building. The federal government then decided to sell the site.

The investor SKI (location Köln Immobilien GmbH) showed interest. According to the investor's plans, the historic buildings not listed should be demolished and residential complexes built.

At the same time, the Cologne synagogue community was looking for a second community center. In the 1990s, the Jewish community grew steadily to 2,600 members. Above all, there was a strong influx from the former Soviet Union. Startled by the demolition plans of the real estate company, the historic buildings were placed under monument protection on May 15, 1996 at the efforts of the city conservator.

After tough negotiations between the investor, the Cologne synagogue community, the city council and the federal government, an agreement was reached in November 1997 to divide the 20,000 m² site. The part of the site with the only surviving historical structure was sold to the Jewish community for DM 560,000; the rest of the site was taken over by SKI.

In 2000, the conversion and renovation began under the direction of the architects Ulrich Coersmeier and Alfred Jacoby . The synagogue facing east (Jerusalem) was new to the building complex. In 2003 the first social institutions started their work. The last two social facilities were implemented in 2004 with the Lauder Morijah elementary school, which is open to all denominations, and the Franz Herschtritt day care center.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Monika Grübel and Georg Mölich: Jewish life in the Rhineland. From the Middle Ages to the present. ISBN 3-412-11205-4 , p. 98.
  2. ^ Barbara Becker-Jákli: The Jewish Hospital in Cologne, p. 87.
  3. ↑ Barbara Becker-Jákli: The Jewish Hospital in Cologne, p. 91.
  4. ↑ Barbara Becker-Jákli: The Jewish Hospital in Cologne, p. 152.
  5. ↑ Photo of an old part of the building

Coordinates: 50 ° 57 '23.3 "  N , 6 ° 55' 34.1"  E