New Synagogue (Chemnitz)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New Synagogue in Chemnitz on Stollberger Strasse

Since 2002 there has been a new synagogue in Chemnitz with a community center on Stollberger Straße. The old synagogue on Stephanplatz in the Kaßberg district was destroyed in 1938 during the Reichspogromnacht .

Prehistory - Old Synagogue

Old Chemnitz Synagogue

The Old Synagogue was built from 1897 to 1899 by the Israeli religious community on the Kaßberg according to plans by the Chemnitz architect Wenzel Bürger . With this synagogue, consecrated on March 7, 1899, Chemnitz received its first Jewish house of worship. In the night of the Reichspogromnacht, on the night of November 9th to 10th, 1938, it was devastated and set on fire, and the remaining masonry was blown up on November 10th. From November 12th to 15th, off-duty firefighters and around 45 helpers cleared all the rubble. The Jewish community had to pay 35,905 Reichsmarks for this. The following year the site was bought by the city for 500 Reichsmarks.

Memorial stele for the synagogue on Stephanplatz that was destroyed on November 10, 1938

In 1988, on the 50th anniversary of this barbarism, a memorial stone was erected on Stephanplatz. It says:

"At this point, the rabbi Dr. Synagogue consecrated to Mühlfelder. It was reduced to rubble and ashes by fascist arsonists on the night of the pogrom on November 9, 1938. "

New synagogue

Since 2002 the Jewish community has had a new house of worship on Stollberger Straße. The New Synagogue was designed by the architect Alfred Jacoby . It was built together with a community center on Stollberger Strasse, a little higher on the edge of the city center. The synagogue itself is a conical ellipse, which is arched like a dome by a glass / steel roof. The synagogue and the community center each offer space for around 300 people.

The Jewish community in Chemnitz, which has grown rapidly again since the fall of the Wall, thus received a community center. The consecration took place on May 24, 2002.

Space program of the community center

  • Ground floor: synagogue room with Almemor and Torah area, community hall, kosher kitchen, library with reading gallery, offices
  • Upper floor: classrooms, senior citizens' club, gallery level of the synagogue with organ and choir area, gallery level of the community hall
  • Basement: youth center, mikveh, archive rooms

Jubilee and own rabbi

Thanks to a donation initiative, the Jewish community came into possession of a new Torah scroll in November 2008. Two years later it celebrated the 125th anniversary of its existence. The Chemnitz congregation, which currently has around 600 members, has had a new rabbi since 2014/15, the 28-year-old Jakov Pertsovsky.

Stumbling blocks

Stumbling block Dr. Arthur Weiner

Since 2007 Chemnitz has also participated in the “Stolpersteine” campaign by the artist Gunter Demnig ; By the end of 2014, more than 100 such stones had been laid in memory of victims of the Nazi tyranny. Arthur Weiner's stumbling block at Stollberger Strasse 41, for example, commemorates the assassination of the deputy chairman of the Jewish community in Chemnitz in 1933 by the SA.

literature

  • Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Volume 1: Aach - Groß-Bieberau. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08077-2 ( online version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historisches Chemnitz - The Synagogue. In: www.historisches-chemnitz.de. Retrieved February 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Rabbi Jakov Pertsovsky qualified. In: www.juedische-allgemeine.de. September 7, 2015, accessed February 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Rabbi Jakov Pertsovsky. In: www.ordonline.de. Retrieved February 28, 2018 .
  4. ^ Chemnitz (Saxony). In: www.jüdische-gemeinden.de. Klaus-Dieter Alicke, accessed on February 28, 2018 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 32.4 "  N , 12 ° 54 ′ 45.8"  E