Stork school

The former “stork school” in Storchengasse 21.

The "hugged" stork school

The stork school (also called stork temple) is a former synagogue in the 15th district of Vienna . It was originally used as a school, among other things, and was not converted into a synagogue until 1930. In 1938 the synagogue was devastated.

history

The Israelite temple association Emunath Awoth (Faith of the Fathers) acquired a two-story house at Storchengasse 21 around 1873, which housed a boys' college, a Talmud - Torah school and a youth, women's and support association. After the annexation of suburban municipalities in Vienna the temple club Emunath Awoth, which had already been recognized as Jewish community before 1873 was due to the Israelite Act of 1890, the Jewish Community of Vienna incorporated.

Due to the difficult economic situation in which Austria found itself in the interwar period, it was no longer possible for the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Vienna to build free-standing synagogues and so in 1930 the club house was converted into a synagogue by the architect Ignaz Reiser and was located next to the synagogue Turnergasse is the second in what is now the 15th district of Vienna. During the November pogroms in 1938 , the synagogue was stormed and devastated, but not set on fire, as there was probably fear of the flames spreading to the neighboring houses, as was the case with the city ​​temple . The Star of David and the tablets of the Law were removed from the pediment .

The National Socialists transferred the property of the stork school to the IKG Vienna on January 29, 1939. In 1942 the property was sold to the Berlin Society for the Promotion of Carpentry on the basis of the law “on the use of Jewish assets”. On May 29, 1943, the property went to the "Holzbaugesellschaft des Deutschen Carpenters with limited liability". After the end of the war and the restitution laws came into force , the IKG applied for the stork school to be restored in 1947. The property was then placed under compulsory administration and the IKG was granted ownership in 1952 in a "partial decision".

From 1955 to 1974 the stork school was the home of the Hashomer Hazair , a Zionist youth organization. Numerous people from Vienna's Jewish community such as Doron Rabinovici spent formative youth here.

On April 7, 1992 the property was sold to a property management company. In 1993 the latter in turn sold the property to a property developer and asset management company. Since a foreclosure auction on March 27, 2003, the former stork school has been owned by the non-profit "Housing and Settlement Society". The building was left to decay in 2008. The listed facade has since been renovated and the building rebuilt. As part of the Herklotzgasse 21 project , the history of the prayer house is of particular importance.

building

The plaque

Since no photos of the original synagogue have survived, its appearance can only be partially reconstructed. The outer facade was dominated by the vertical lines of the narrow longitudinal or slotted windows. At the top, the facade was closed off horizontally by a flat element. Here, at the top of the building, the house was adorned with the tablets of the law and two flanking stars of David. This ornament was also the only indication of the building's use.

Since 2010 the house, which has only served profane purposes since 1938, has been integrated into a new building. The facade has undergone a thorough renovation. A plaque commemorates the original role of the building in Jewish life.

literature

• Pierre Genée: Vienna Synagogues 1825–1938 . Löcker, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-85409-113-3 .
• Michael Kofler, Judith Pühringer, Georg Traska (eds.): The triangle of my childhood. A Jewish suburban community in Vienna . Mandelbaum Verlag, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-85476-279-9 .
• Bob Martens , Herbert Peter: The destroyed synagogues of Vienna. Virtual city walks . Mandelbaum Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85476-313-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Bob Martens, Katharina Kohlmaier: What happened to the properties on which there were synagogues in Vienna? In: David. Jewish cultural magazine No. 77, (summer 2008) (accessed November 9, 2008)
2. ↑ Project Herklotzgasse 21: STORCHENGASSE 21: an orthodox prayer house and bar of the left-wing Zionist youth movement Haschomer Hazair ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on November 9, 2008)

Web links

Commons : Stork School  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Project Herklotzgasse 21
• Jewish places of worship in Vienna before 1938

Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 10 ″  N , 16 ° 19 ′ 54 ″  E