New Synagogue (Bad Kissingen)
The former synagogue in Bad Kissingen , a town in the Bavarian administrative district of Lower Franconia , was built in 1900/02 on Max-Straße (formerly Promenadenstraße 1). It was damaged by arson during the November pogrom in 1938 and, despite repairable damage, was demolished in 1939 by decision of the Bad Kissingen city council.
history
In 1705 a synagogue was built not far from the Judenhof of the Erthal Protective Jews (located in today's Bachstrasse ) . A new building, the so-called Old Synagogue , was built at the same location in 1851/52 , but due to the rapidly growing number of Jewish community members, it became too small and was demolished in 1927/28.
Therefore, in the 1890s, the German architect Carl Krampf was commissioned to build the new synagogue, which began in 1894 with the first sketches. The new building was to be built in neo-Romanesque style based on the model of the synagogue in Baden-Baden's competition pool . The intention was to build a synagogue that was worthy of a world bath and represented the Jewish community without distinguishing itself from its Christian environment.
In 1899, Carl Krampf's plans were approved. Construction work began in autumn of the same year and ended in 1902. On June 16, 1902, the inauguration ceremony took place with great sympathy also from the non-Jewish part of the Bad Kissingen population.
The cantor at the Bad Kissingen synagogue was Ludwig Steinberger, father of the Physics Nobel Prize winner Jack Steinberger .
On November 10, 1938, the synagogue was set on fire shortly after 1 a.m. by men from the SA Storm Bad Kissingen, led by SA Obersturmbannführer Emil Otto Walter. Presumably the Bad Kissingen district leader of the NSDAP, Willy Heimbach, was also involved in the arson; from January 1938 he was district leader in Bad Kissingen. In 1949, the Schweinfurt regional court was unable to prove that Heimbach was involved in setting the synagogue on fire. The main defendant in the pogrom trial, Emil Otto Walter, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the Schweinfurt Regional Court on December 21, 1949 for inciting serious arson. 13 co-defendants were acquitted "for lack of evidence".
The interior of the synagogue burned down completely from 1 a.m. to early morning on November 10, 1938. The synagogue's windows burst from the heat. The fire brigade had been present since the fire broke out, but did not put out the fire, only ensured that the fire did not spread to neighboring properties; There was a gas station in the immediate vicinity of the synagogue. As early as October 1938, the synagogue was inspected by Heimbach district leader with the suggestion that "the existence of the synagogue [...] was only a matter of time". On March 17, 1939, at the instigation of the 2nd Mayor Willy Messerschmidt, the Bad Kissingen city council decided to demolish it because of alleged disrepair, although District Administrator Conrath pointed out the high demolition costs and, according to the fire insurance, repairing the damage would have been sufficient.
For the purpose of demolishing the synagogue, the city of Bad Kissingen bought the property at Maxstrasse 10 in April 1939 for 16,000 RM . Most of the building material for the synagogue was used for the construction of the mayor's house and the district leader's house on Staffels as well as for makeshift homes. The rest of the building blocks of the synagogue were stored at the Bad Kissinger Südbrücke.
The destruction of the synagogue was not approved by the entire population. Some even rejected it, but only a few dared to express their criticism openly. One of those who openly expressed criticism was the Catholic city chaplain Franz Hartinger, who criticized the destruction of the synagogue in a religion lesson at the Bad Kissingen vocational school. Hartinger later denied having criticized him publicly, so that the Bamberg district court dropped the proceedings against him at the end of April 1939. Hartinger only received an urgent warning from the senior public prosecutor in Schweinfurt.
In mid-February 1949 the trial of 14 participants in the pogrom night of November 9, 1938 began at the Schweinfurt Regional Court. The verdict was reached on December 21, 1949: Emil Otto Walter, the main defendant in the proceedings, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for inciting arson . For 12 accused, among them the then district leader and the 2nd mayor of the city of Bad Kissingen, there were acquittals “for lack of guilt” or “for lack of evidence”.
After long negotiations, on June 25, 1951, the Bad Kissingen city council finally settled claims for reimbursement in the amount of RM 165,000 to the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization, which protects the rights of Holocaust survivors .
architecture
The architect Carl Krampf from Bad Kissingen designed the plans in a neo-Romanesque style. The synagogue was 33 meters long, 18 meters wide and, with the dome, 33 meters high. The men's prayer room had 200 seats, the women's gallery had space for 120 people.
Commemoration
A memorial plaque has been on the site of the former synagogue since 1967 ; In 2002 a new memorial was erected there.
See also
literature
- Israel Schwierz: Stone evidence of Jewish life in Bavaria. A documentation . Ed. from the Bavarian State Center for Political Education . Munich 1988, ISBN 3-87052-393-X , pp. 38-40.
- Hans-Jürgen Beck, Rudolf Walter: The synagogue. In: Jewish life in Bad Kissingen. Published by the city of Bad Kissingen, Bad Kissingen 1990, p. 20.
- The religious communities in Bad Kissingen - The Israelite community. In: Thomas Ahnert, Peter Weidisch (eds.): 1200 years Bad Kissingen, 801–2001, facets of a city's history. Festschrift for the anniversary year and accompanying volume for the exhibition of the same name . Special publication of the Bad Kissingen city archive. Verlag TA Schachenmayer, Bad Kissingen 2001, ISBN 3-929278-16-2 , p. 308 ff. [Not evaluated]
- The criminal case file of Emil Otto Walter, the proceedings at the Schweinfurt regional court for the setting on fire of the Bad Kissingen synagogue on November 10, 1938, February - December 1949; State Archives Würzburg
Web links
- Rudolf Walter: Inauguration of the New Synagogue in Bad Kissingen 100 years ago (at www.badkissingen.de)
- Synagogue Bad Kissingen near Alemannia Judaica (with photos)
- Virtual reconstruction of the synagogue in Bad Kissingen
Coordinates: 50 ° 12 ′ 6.4 " N , 10 ° 4 ′ 31.4" E