Synagogue (Alsfeld)

The synagogue in Alsfeld on a postcard

Photo from 1905

The synagogue in Alsfeld , a town in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse , was built in 1904/05 and destroyed in 1938. The former synagogue was at Lutherstrasse 1.

history

A synagogue already existed in Alsfeld in the Middle Ages . In the case of a building permit from 1458, it is noted that “the Jewish school should be left undeveloped”. From 1830 a synagogue was set up in the house at Metzgergasse 18. The building had a prayer room as well as a classroom for the Jewish religious school and a teacher's apartment. By 1900 the Jewish community in Alsfeld had grown to over 200 people, which is why the old synagogue had become too small. In 1904/05 a representative new building was therefore built in the neo-Romanesque style based on plans by the architect Fritz Adam from Fulda .

time of the nationalsocialism

During the November pogrom of 1938 , on the evening of November 9th, the windows of the synagogue were broken and the interior set on fire. An SA leader who was chairman of the district savings bank and the mayor of Völsing prevented it from burning down completely . Soon afterwards, the SA leader acquired the synagogue from the Jewish community and converted it into a residential building in 1939 after it was partially demolished.

A Torah scroll from the synagogue was saved in 1938 by members of the Alsfeld History and Museum Association, which still exists today, and is exhibited in the Alsfeld Regional Museum (see Minnigerode House ). In the museum you can see other exhibits on Jewish history, such as the Torah cabinet of the former synagogue.

Commemoration

A memorial plaque with the following inscription was attached to a wall in the garden (Lutherstrasse / Hinter der Mauer) : “This is where the synagogue stood, inaugurated in 1905, destroyed on November 9, 1938 by National Socialist terror. The suffering of the Jewish people calls for the defense of human rights, resistance to violence and the unlawful persecution of those who think differently ”.

literature

Heinrich Dittmar , Herbert Jäkel: History of the Jews in Alsfeld . History and Museumsverein, Alsfeld 1988, ISBN 3-927284-00-9 , pp. 67-71 u. 97-98.
Thea Altaras : Synagogues and Jewish ritual immersion baths in Hesse - What happened since 1945? 2nd edition, Königstein im Taunus 2007, ISBN 978-3-7845-7794-4 , pp. 252-253.