New Synagogue (Braunschweig)

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The "New Synagogue" 1899
Interior of the "New Synagogue" 1887
Our synagogue , painting by Lette Valeska from 1940.
The Jewish community center
The bunker. On the far left in the background the Jewish community center
Memorial plaque on the former site of the synagogue

The New Synagogue stood until 1940 in the Old Knochenhauerstraße 1 in Braunschweig city center , in the precincts of the old town . It was initially badly damaged during the November pogroms launched by the National Socialists from November 9th to 10th, 1938, only to be demolished in 1940 because of alleged "dilapidation".

history

Already in the Middle Ages there was a synagogue in Braunschweiger Neustadt on Jöddenstraße (= "Judenstraße") , which probably also included a mikveh . At the beginning of the 18th century, a room in the former municipal mint on Kohlmarkt , at the corner of Schützenstraße , was set up as a prayer room. Finally, the Jewish community of Braunschweig used a back building on the west side of the Kohlmarkt (Kohlmarkt 290) as a synagogue from 1767 to 1779.

Location

From 1873 a new building (with an adjoining parish hall in Steinstrasse) was built according to plans by Professor Constantin Uhde in an oriental style, tending towards the Romanesque , in line with the Moorish architectural style . Uhde gained inspiration for this on a trip through Portugal and Spain. The opening ceremony took place on September 23, 1875. The “New Synagogue” was located just a few meters across from the oldest preserved half-timbered house in Braunschweig, the “Bone Hewer House”, today's “ Knight St. Georg ” from 1489.

Interior decoration

The interior, decorated with arabesques , was entered through a vestibule, which was illuminated by a circular skylight with a Star of David and colored windows.

The pulpit and the tablets of the law were made of marble. The pulpit was opposite the entrance, to the right of the pulpit was a seven-armed candlestick, the menorah . To the left of the pulpit was a marble plaque that commemorated one of the greatest donors to the construction of the synagogue, the court banker Nathalion, who died in 1864. From the pulpit, a few steps led to the Almemor and further to the Torah shrine . The men sat on the first floor, the women in the galleries.

Destruction in the night of the pogrom

The Braunschweig synagogue was severely damaged in the night of the pogrom on November 9, 1938 by explosives from the SA and SS (under the direction of Friedrich Jeckeln ). However, since the building was located in an area of ​​the city center densely built with half - timbered houses, it was not set on fire for fear of the flames spreading to neighboring houses. Instead, the furniture and other combustible furnishings were moved to the nearby square "An der Martinikirche" brought and burned there in public. The ruin of the church was finally demolished in December 1940 because it was “dilapidated”. However, the adjoining parish hall in Steinstrasse was retained and has been used by the Jewish community again since 1983.

air-raid shelter

After the demolition work was completed, the construction of a bunker began immediately - Germany had already been in World War II for two years . The fact that the National Socialists built a bunker on the site of the destroyed synagogue was not a coincidence, but an ideological consequence. The same happened at the synagogue locations in Frankfurt am Main , Siegen and Regensburg . It was in the interests of the Nazi regime to first destroy places of Jewish faith and life in order to then use them to protect “ Aryans ” by building bunkers, which Jews were forbidden to enter on the death penalty .

The bunker had space for 813 people, was one of 24 bunkers and three air raid tunnels in Braunschweig and the first of six bunkers that were built in the city center in 1940/41. The original plan was to protect the bunker from being discovered by enemy aerial reconnaissance by camouflaging it as a normal half-timbered house by attaching half-timbered and stone elements and a normal-looking house roof. For this purpose, concrete protrusions - still visible today - were attached to the western outer wall, to which the camouflage should be attached. However, as with some other bunkers in Braunschweig, the project was never implemented.

The bunker has four floors and is 13 m high, 37 m long and 24 m wide; the walls are made of 1.10 m thick reinforced concrete , the ceiling measures 1.40 m. In July 1941, the old bunker bone hauerstraße was opened for use. During the numerous bombings of Braunschweig, it received several direct hits, but remained intact.

Post-war use

Since the bunker is located directly in a residential area, it could not be blown up after the war, instead it was used as an emergency shelter for refugees from June 1, 1945 to June 30, 1954. From 1954 to 1963 it served as a shelter for the homeless. In 1980/81 it was reactivated as a civil protection bunker in the event of disasters through various renovation and modernization measures.

In 1975 a memorial plaque was attached to the bunker on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the synagogues and commemorates the former synagogue, its destruction and the persecution of Jews in Braunschweig.

Construction of a new synagogue in Braunschweig

After the number of Jewish community members had risen sharply in recent years and the old rooms had become too small, the new Braunschweig synagogue was inaugurated on December 6, 2006 in the inner courtyard of the Jewish community center in Steinstrasse .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : New Synagogue Braunschweig  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The old bunker at amaot.de, accessed on October 15, 2013.

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 39 ″  N , 10 ° 31 ′ 1 ″  E