Prague House Apolda

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Logo of the house: A dove with an olive branch flies out of the house

The Prager-Haus , the office building of the Jewish businessman Bernhard Prager, built in 1925 in the street of the same name in Apolda, Thuringia , had been uninhabited since the mid-1990s and threatened with decay. An association founded in January 2007 aims to preserve the house as a place of remembrance and remembrance for the city's Jewish residents. It is dedicated to educating people about the roots and occurrence of anti-Semitism in the region and documents the persecution and murder of the Jewish population during the time of National Socialism . In addition, it promotes the research and dissemination of the cultural and social history of everyday life in the Weimar-Apolda region, in particular the history of social, religious and political minorities.

The Prager family and the history of the Jews in Apolda

The later owner of the house, the Jewish fur trader Bernhard Prager, was born on June 29, 1888 in Wenings , Hesse , and murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp on September 26, 1944 . He and his family used the house as a store for butcher's supplies until the " Aryanization " in 1939 and lived there - together with their mother-in-law Fanny Katzenstein, who they took in from Erfurt - from 1940 until their deportation . The entire Prager family fell victim to the Holocaust . The "Aryanization" of all the family's property is documented in minute detail in a source volume from the Thuringia State Center for Civic Education .

Association and memorial project

Street view in 1995
Facade design with advertising banner 2011
Facade view from the northeast, May 2017
View of the facade from the southwest October 2018

The Prager-Haus eV Apolda association was founded in January 2007. This foundation was preceded by twenty years of research, during which people interested in history looked into the fate of the persecuted and expelled and, to a large extent, murdered Jewish residents of the city of Apolda. Objective testimonies from this period ( artefacts ) were compiled, oral reports from contemporary witnesses were recorded in writing, and contacts were established with those who had escaped and their descendants in various countries.

A few months before the 50th anniversary of the pogrom night , on June 29, 1988, the 100th birthday of Bernhard Prager, a plaque was put up on his office building in memory of this family of traders. In 1991, the first result of the research was a book that describes an overview of Jewish life in Apolda.

The Geschichtswerkstatt Weimar-Apolda eV, founded in 1999 and merged into the Prager-Haus-Verein, published further works on Jewish life, persecution in the first Thuringian concentration camps in Nohra and Bad Sulza, as well as the everyday rule of National Socialism in the Apolda region.

Since its inception, public figures of the city and its environs for the club and its goals have committed, including the mayor of Apolda Rüdiger iron fire and Wolfgang Peller , a persecuted during the Nazi Jew from Apolda who later Deputy Minister of Justice of the GDR was and in Berlin lives.

Soon after the association was founded, buying a house was initiated as a prerequisite for the implementation of the association's goal. In 2008 the members of the association began to publish their own series of publications describing the fate of affected families, resistance activities against National Socialism and the life of minorities in the city.

In May 2008, the Cologne action artist Gunter Demnig laid the first three Stumbling Blocks in front of the Prague House, followed by nine more stones in October. In August 2009, in the presence of some descendants of Nazi victims, another 15 stumbling blocks were laid, including to commemorate Wehrmacht deserters , resistance members from the labor movement and Soviet forced laborers . In 2010 another seven stones were added, including one for a Russian mother and her four children who were victims of inhumane forced labor . Eight stones were laid in 2011, including one for a Jewish woman and six children of forced labor from Rheinmetall-Borsig AG and a related theme stone. In 2013 another six stones were laid, including two for " euthanasia " victims. Three more stones were added in 2014, four more in 2015, five more stones in 2016, five more in 2017 and five more in 2018. This means that there are 70 stumbling blocks in Apolda .

The association appears at numerous city festivals and social events with information stands.

On September 16, 2010, the desecration of the memorial site through the laying of a pig's head became known. The police took a complaint, and the state security investigated against unknown.

The association has been operating in Weimarische Strasse 5 since October 18, 2012, and has been running a documentation center on resistance and persecution 1933–1945 in Thuringia at Ritterstrasse 19 in Apolda since 2015 . In doing so, he announced his intention to act as an archive and library for the state of Thuringia on this subject beyond the limited Apolda area. There is an archive with its components of people, film, files and artefacts as well as a specialist library from the Nazi era as well as social science literature and newspapers / magazines.

  • Stumbling block for Bernhard Prager, laid in May 2008

  • Stumbling block for Gertrud Prager, laid in May 2008

  • Stumbling block for Heinz Prager, laid in May 2008

  • Stolperstein for Fanny Katzenstein, laid in October 2011

Construction planning

In October 2011, the project was included in the planning of the city of Apolda for 2013, but the complementary funds to be raised by the association were not available to be included in the urban development funding program of Apolda. The Weimar architects Aschenbach had prepared a study for this purpose, which provided for the renovation of the authentic house and the construction of a new communication room and archive wall on the property behind the house. Because, despite intensive efforts by the district, the state and the federal government, no financial commitments for other construction funding were initially achieved, the association decided in 2013 to gradually renovate the building with the simplest of means. Mayor Rüdiger Eisenbrand also provided practical support for the renovation work by providing the municipal depot with containers for debris removal. In 2015, again with the help of the municipal building authority, it was possible to obtain significant funds from the state's building security program, with which the roofing of the outbuildings could be renovated in a first construction phase. The association was able to carry out all other work on the interior fittings from private sponsors and donors. In summer 2016, the completion of the first construction phase was celebrated with the renovation of the inner courtyard and ancillary building. At the beginning of 2018, the second construction phase, which was subsidized by the state, was also completed with the stabilization of a gable wall and the new roof covering. On October 3, 2018, the Prague House was opened as a place of learning and memorial with a celebration of the association's members. The Thuringian Chamber of Architects is presenting the renovated Prague House for Architecture Day on June 29, 2019 in its brochure.

Publications of the Prager-Haus-Verein and the history workshop Weimar-Apolda

"Wanted" series of publications

  • "Wanted 1" Udo Wohlfeld: "... and the way inevitably leads to Buchenwald. The spirit of Weimar behind bars. A documentation about the causes that made Weimar an exposed city in Nazi Germany and the consequences for hundreds of thousands of people in Europe , Weimar 1999
  • "Wanted 2" Falk Burkhardt, Udo Wohlfeld: the network. The concentration camps in Thuringia 1933–1937. A documentation on the Nohra, Bad Sulza and Buchenwald camps, and the contribution National Conservative Forces and the Bad Sulza Concentration Camp. Stahlhelm - Bund der Frontsoldaten , Weimar 2000, ISBN 3-935275-01-3
  • "Wanted 3" Peter Franz , Udo Wohlfeld: caught in the net. The concentration camps in Thuringia 1933–1945 . In it Udo Wohlfeld, The Worch case - a family is destroyed. Mother and daughter hostage in the Bad Sulza concentration camp, with a study by Susanne Böhm; Peter Franz, The city of Apolda and the surrounding concentration camps, Weimar 2000, ISBN 3-935275-02-1
  • "Wanted 4" Peter Franz: Ordinary Fascism. About the everyday rule of the "National Socialists" using the example of a medium-sized town in the German Empire (Apolda). A Chronology in Year Discs, Part 1 , Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-935275-00-5
  • "wanted 5" Harry Stein, Udo Wohlfeld: Social Democrats against Hitler. The Nehrling-Eberling resistance group in Weimar. Reports and documents , Weimar 2003, ISBN 3-935275-03-X
  • "Wanted 6" Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: Jewish families in Apolda. Defamation, exclusion, disenfranchisement, expulsion, deportation, annihilation, disobedience. The Apolda Jewry during Fascism, Weimar 2008² , ISBN 3-935275-05-6
  • "Wanted 7" Heinz Koch, Udo Wohlfeld: The German Buchenwald Committee. The period from 1945 to 1958 , Weimar 2010, ISBN 3-935275-14-5
  • "Wanted 8" Wilhelm Koch, Hildegard Koch: ... but the bees sting at the back. ' Wilhelm Koch in Sulzbach, a pastor on the Confessional Front in Thuringia 1933–1945 , Apolda 2013, ISBN 3-935275-23-4
  • "Wanted 9" Käthe Raphael, Zeev Raphael, Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: A Jewish family in Thuringia. The unprecedented struggle of a mother for the lives of her three children , = wanted 9, ed. History workshop Weimar-Apolda / Working group of the Prager-Haus Apolda eV association, Apolda 2014, ISBN 3-935275-32-3
  • "wanted 10" Zeev Heinz Raphael: The emigration. The way of a Jewish family from Germany to Israel , = wanted 10, ed. History workshop Weimar-Apolda / working group of the association Prager-Haus Apolda eV, Haifa - Apolda 2015, ISBN 3-935275-35-8

"Found" series

  • "Found 1" Peter Franz, Tina Unglaube, Udo Wohlfeld: The Pragers. A Jewish family in Apolda . History workshop Weimar-Apolda eV, Apolda 2008, ISBN 3-935275-07-2
  • "Found 2" Karl Berger, Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: August Berger. Social Democrat in Apolda . History workshop Weimar-Apolda eV, Apolda 2008, ISBN 3-935275-08-0
  • "found 3" Wolfgang Peller, Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: The Pellers. A Jewish family in Apolda . History workshop Weimar-Apolda eV, Apolda 2008, ISBN 3-935275-10-2
  • "found 4" Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: Deadly Resistance. Apoldaer Arbeiter 1933–1945 , Apolda 2009, ISBN 3-935275-10-2
  • "found 5" Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: The Fleischmanns. A Jewish family in Apolda , Apolda 2009, ISBN 3-935275-11-0
  • "found 6" Ruth-Barbara Schlenker, Udo Wohlfeld: National Socialist Camp in Bad Sulza. A city tour , Apolda 2009, ISBN 3-935275-12-9
  • "found 7" Udo Wohlfeld: Prohibited contact. A pole is hung up in 1940 , Apolda 2011, ISBN 3-935275-17-X
  • "found 8" Horst Firme, Udo Wohlfeld: A life for four years. Euthanasia on a child 1942 , Apolda 2011, ISBN 3-935275-18-8
  • "found 9" Udo Wohlfeld: The rumor. A "submarine" in Buttstädt , Apolda 2011, ISBN 3-935275-19-6
  • "Found 10" Udo Wohlfeld: The "Gypsy Camp" in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The murder of the Sinti and Roma 1943–1944 , Weimar 2012, ISBN 3-935275-20-X
  • "found 11" Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: Jewish houses in Apolda. A city tour , Apolda 2012, ISBN 3-935275-22-6
  • (Pocket edition :) Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: Jewish houses in Apolda. A city tour , Apolda 2012, ISBN 3-935275-22-6
  • "found 12" Gerhard Berndt, Karlfriedrich Nebe: An underrated memorial. The memorial for the victims of fascism in Apolda , Apolda 2013, ISBN 3-935275-24-2
  • "found 13" Peter Franz, Hartwig Mähler, Udo Wohlfeld: Against highest orders. A Courageous Choice for City Life , Apolda 2013, ISBN 3-935275-26-9
  • "Found 14" Swantje Gebhardt, Svenja Maaß, Rebekka Reise, Lydia Steinke: mass murder of patients from Blankenhain. Anna March - Victims of Euthanasia , Apolda 2014, ISBN 3-935275-31-5
  • "found 15" Udo Wohlfeld: You can be sure of the thanks of the fatherland! The chaos in soldier souls , Apolda 2014, ISBN 3-935275-33-1
  • "found 16" Peter Franz, Tina Unglaube, Udo Wohlfeld: The Pragers. A Jewish Family in Apolda (improved and greatly expanded edition of the booklet of the same name from 2008), Geschichtswerkstatt Weimar-Apolda e. V., Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-73-0
  • "found 17" Peter Franz: The descendants speak. Your Return to the Roots , ed. from the history workshop Weimar / Apolda e. V., Apolda 2020, ISBN 3-935275-83-8
  • "found 18" Dr. Wolfgang Peller, Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: The Pellers. A Jewish family in Apolda (improved and greatly expanded edition of the 2008 issue of the same name); History workshop Weimar-Apolda e. V., Apolda 2020, ISBN 3-935275-78-1

Series of publications "found extra"

  • "found extra 1" Udo Wohlfeld: The life and death of the Schtscholkin family , Apolda 2010, ISBN 3-935275-15-3
  • "found extra 2" Peter Franz: The hybrid. An Unexpected Discovery , Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-71-4
  • "found extra 3" Peter Franz: The Rosewitz. A Destroyed Family , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-76-5
  • "found extra 4" Peter Franz: The Jewish patriots. A knowledge on the death bed , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-77-3

Series of publications "Apoldaer Judengeschichten"

  • Peter Franz: The clever ones. Elfriede and her son trick the Nazis. No. 1 in the series Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2015, ISBN 3-935-275-37-4
  • Peter Franz: The woman in the closet. Greetings from the beyond. No. 2 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten. Apolda 2015, ISBN 3-935275-39-0 .
  • Peter Franz: The messenger of bad luck. The order to drive to death. No. 3 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten. Apolda 2015, ISBN 3-935275-39-0 .
  • Peter Franz: War comradeship. Friendship against hatred of Jews. No. 4 from the series Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2015, ISBN 3-935275-42-0
  • Peter Franz: The radiologist. A Jewish doctor is disgusted out of Apolda. No. 5 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2015, ISBN 3-935275-41-2
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The violinist. Music as an over-food. No. 6 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2016, ISBN 3-935275-45-5
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The secret door. The Nazis can do me ... No. 7 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2016, ISBN 3-935275-47-1
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The confectioner. Half a Jew - but a whole person. No. 8 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-48-X
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: Silent Heroes. Harry, Käthe, Marie, Albert, Paul and Hilde. No. 9 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-55-2
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The mysterious tailor. Blown in by the wind of history. No. 10 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-72-2
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The Jewish House . A cattle shop became the "Judenhaus". No. 11 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-74-9
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The Ghetto Boy. Locked up and survived. No. 12 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-81-1
  • Christine van der Heide-Schneider and Peter Franz: The denounced. Hatred leads to inhumanity. The number 13 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2020, ISBN 3-935275-84-6
  • Peter Franz: The "racial defender". From the path of life to the stairs of death. The number 14 from the series of Apoldaer Judengeschichten , Apolda 2020, ISBN 978-3-9822110-7

Series of publications "Children on the run"

  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 01 "The Testament". Interview with Shimon Weisbecker from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-51-X
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 02 "The Passover Festival 1933". Interview with Judith Lew from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-52-8
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 03 "The violin". Interview with Meir Stern from Jerusalem , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-53-6
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 04 "The replacement". Interview with Naphtali Stern from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-54-4
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 05 "The Truck-Driver". Interview with Erika Sharon from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-56-0
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 06 "The Chronicler". Interview with Zeev Raphael from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-57-9
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 07 "The laboratory assistant". Interview with Chava Karpas from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2017, ISBN 3-935275-58-7
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 08 "There he stood". Interview with Ilana Tsur from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-59-5
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 09 "Mother's love". Interview with Mania Eshkolot from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-60-9
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 10 "The Torah Scroll". Interview with Shlomo Givon from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-61-7
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 11 "The Austrian". Interview with Michael Gewitsch from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-59-5
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 12 "The way to a new home". Interview with Judith Rosen from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-63-3
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 13 "The Bookworm". Ester Cohn from Haifa / Israel in an interview , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-64-1
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 14 "The rascal". Interview with Alexander Cohn from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-65-X
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 15 "The Austrian". Interview with Michael Gewitsch from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-66-8
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 16 "The Kindergarten Teacher". Interview with Edna Süsskind from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-67-6
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 17 "The Kindertransport". Interview with Judith Brosch from Haifa / Israel , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-68-4
  • Marion Schneider and Udo Wohlfeld: 18 "The Untiring". An interview with Inge Koch from Weimar / Germany , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-70-6
  • Susie Barnett, Essex / Great Britain. Family memories: 19 "The broken family , Apolda 2019, ISBN 3-935275-79-X

Series of publications "Pfarrscheune <Niedertrebra>"

  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS01 "... that people have to learn something!" - The history of a village school , Apolda 1998, ISBN 3-935275-85-4
  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS02 "Necessity makes you inventive" - ​​How one has made do in bad times , Apolda 1999, ISBN 3-935275-87-0
  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS03 An old house tells. Time travel through the history of a Protestant rectory in Thuringia , ISBN 3-935275-27-7
  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS04 "... and they did it!" - Upheavals in a German village in 1945 , ISBN 3-935275-28-5
  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS05 The Grand Duke is coming! ... and other sizes - testimonies from the Weimar region from two centuries , ISBN 3-935275-29-3
  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS06 "Where the train doesn't last long" - Railway memories , ISBN 3-935275-88-9
  • Ruth-Barbara Schlenker: PS07 " Being a child in the country" - Old toys tell stories and stories , ISBN 3-935275-89-7

Single issues

  • Peter Franz, Udo Wohlfeld: The course of memory. Oppression and resistance 1933–1935 in the Apolda region . History workshop Weimar-Apolda e. V., Apolda 2018, ISBN 3-935275-69-2
  • Peter Franz: The Red Pastor II. Curator of a Jewish learning and memorial site , ed. by Udo Wohlfeld, Weimar-Taubach 2019, ISBN 3-935275-80-3
  • Peter Franz: Under the Star of David. 150 years of Jewish life in Apolda. A contribution from the Apolda House in Prague on the commemorative year "Nine Centuries of Jewish Life in Thuringia" , Weimar-Taubach 2020, ISBN 978-3-9822110-8

literature

  • Peter Franz: The Prague House. How people in Apolda remember those whom fascism declared to be “subhumans” . In: RotFuchs , No. 143 of December 2009, RF-Extra p. III

Web links

Commons : Prague House (Apolda)  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Apolda (district town, Weimarer Land district): Jewish history / synagogue , Alemannia Judaica
  2. ↑ Monika Gibas (Ed.): "Aryanization" in Thuringia. Disenfranchisement, expropriation and extermination of the Jewish citizens of Thuringia 1933–1945. ISBN 3-937967-06-0 , pp. 215ff.
  3. ↑ Klaus Jäger: Pig's head deposited in front of a Jewish memorial in Apolda , Thüringer Allgemeine , September 16, 2010
  4. ↑ Rhea Henkel: The Prague House in Apolda is being snatched from oblivion: First construction phase celebrated , Thüringer Allgemeine, July 4, 2016
  5. ↑ Tag der Architektur 2019, Erfurt, pp. 64f., ISBN 978-3-935652-03-2

Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 30 ″  N , 11 ° 30 ′ 49 ″  E