Synagogue (Gelnhausen)

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Gelnhausen synagogue
Memorial stone on the outer wall of the synagogue

The Gelnhausen Synagogue is the former synagogue of Gelnhausen in the Main-Kinzig district in Hesse .

location

The former synagogue is located at Brentanostraße 8-10, in the heart of the old town of Gelnhausen, just a few steps southwest of the Untermarkt.

local community

Commemorative inscription for Jewish communities in the Valley of the Communities in Yad Vashem , including those in Gelnhausen

Jews have lived in Gelnhausen since the 13th century, and the first synagogue is mentioned in 1348. In 1349 there was a plague pogrom in Gelnhausen in which all Jews were burned. In 1352 there was again a "Jewish school" and in 1356 a Judengasse . In 1576 the Jews were expelled again. In 1599 there were again Jews living in the city. The pledgee of Gelnhausen, Count Philipp Ludwig II. Von Hanau-Münzenberg , encouraged the settlement of Jewish communities in his area of ​​influence, for example in Hanau , for economic reasons . The community existed until it dissolved after 1933 under the Nazi terror in 1938.

building

Previous buildings

Structural remains of the synagogue mentioned in 1348 are not known. Presumably in 1601 the community, who lived in Gelnhausen again at the end of the 16th century, built a new synagogue. It is not certain whether this happened on the remains of the medieval synagogue, but there are some indications for it. This new building - like the entire city - was destroyed in the Thirty Years War . In 1650, a new building was built in place of the destroyed synagogue. Nothing is known about its appearance.

Today's building

shape

The synagogue is located on Brentanostraße, which until 1900 was called "Judengasse". The synagogue is a simple, eaves-standing building that was based on the city fortifications. The main facade is structured by 6 arched windows. The entrance is located asymmetrically in the west and takes up the width of two window axes above. The hall is connected to the east with four window axes.

The building is mainly made of red sandstone , which occurs in the nearby Spessart .

history

It is also not known whether the synagogue building from 1734 was a reconstruction of the building from 1650 or largely a baroque new building. The architectural forms used refer to the environment of Louis Remy de la Fosse , who was active in Darmstadt at this time . In 1834 the building was extensively renovated.

In 1938 the Jewish community in Gelnhausen dissolved and in July sold the area for 10,400 RM to an "Aryan" merchant. The cult objects had previously been given to the Jewish community in Frankfurt am Main, their whereabouts are unknown. On the night of June 3rd to 4th, 1938, which is known as the “Gelnhäusner Kristallnacht”, the two doors of the synagogue were walled up and stones were thrown at the windows of the synagogue and the Jewish community center. In the November pogrom of 1938 , the building remained unmolested. At that time there were no more Jews living in Gelnhausen, and so the hatred of the population was directed against the dead; Some gravestones were knocked over in the Jewish cemetery on the Kinzig . In addition to the synagogue building, the area also included other buildings belonging to the community, which were grouped around a small inner square: a mikvah , a yeshiva (school), which also served as a weekday synagogue , the rabbi's house and the presumably medieval wall surrounding the property limited to the street.

After the Second World War , which left its mark on the building through bullets, the number of Jewish returnees was too few to use the synagogue sacred again, although such efforts were made. In 1969 the last private owner sold the site to the district craftsmen , who intended to set up a training workshop for apprentice motor vehicle technicians. That was delayed and from 1973 the monument protection movement , which was then on the rise, and shortly afterwards the state preservation of monuments began to take on the matter. Before this intervention was crowned with success, an outdated transport policy prevailed again in 1975 : All outbuildings, mikveh, yeshiva and the presumably medieval enclosure wall were demolished in favor of a parking lot.

The synagogue building was first cleared out and secured by a group of art history students at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University , Frankfurt am Main . In 1981 the city bought the building with funds from the Lotto Hessen fund . The extensive renovation work began in 1983. The Gelnhausen History Association , the City of Gelnhausen and the State of Hesse raised or provided the necessary funds. When the funds ran out in the meantime, a temporary construction freeze had to be ordered.

After the renovation was completed in 1986, the former synagogue is a place of cultural encounter in Gelnhausen. Mainly small music concerts and exhibitions take place there. The former synagogue is a cultural monument under the Hessian Monument Protection Act .

The Jewish cemetery in Gelnhausen, a few hundred meters south-east, is well preserved .

literature

  • Thea Altaras : Synagogues and Jewish ritual immersion baths in Hesse - What happened since 1945? , 2nd updated, combined u. extended edition, from d. Estate ed. v. Gabriele Klempert u. Hans-Curt Koester. Langewiesche, Königstein i. Ts. 2007 (= The Blue Books ), ISBN 978-3-7845-7794-4 , No. 158 (pp. 329–331).
  • Paul Arnsberg : The Jewish communities in Hesse. Beginning - fall - new beginning. Volume I. Published by the regional association of Jewish communities in Hesse, Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt 1971, pp. 240–246.
  • Gerhard Blumenröder: slipstream and buoyancy: the struggle to preserve a cultural and historical monument . In: Festschrift. Former synagogue - Gelnhausen. Dedication as a cultural meeting place on September 25, 1986. Ed .: Magistrat der Barbarossastadt Gelnhausen. Gelnhausen 1986, pp. 83-99.
  • Waltraud Friedrich: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany - cultural monuments in Hesse, Main-Kinzig-Kreis II, 2. Wiesbaden 2011. ISBN 978-3-8062-2469-6 , pp. 505f.
  • History Association Gelnhausen: Former Gelnhausen Synagogue , Festschrift 1986.
  • Hessian State Center for Political Education : Remembrance and Commemoration in Hessen , Wiesbaden 1999, p. 23.
  • Gerhard Mühlinghaus: The Gelnhausen Synagogue - Details of a building through the ages . In: Festschrift. Former synagogue - Gelnhausen. Dedication as a cultural meeting place on September 25, 1986. Ed .: Magistrat der Barbarossastadt Gelnhausen. Gelnhausen 1986, pp. 19-34.
  • Richard Scheuer: The end of the Israelite religious community in the formerly free imperial city of Gelnhausen . In: Festschrift. Former synagogue - Gelnhausen. Dedication as a cultural meeting place on September 25, 1986. Ed .: Magistrat der Barbarossastadt Gelnhausen. Gelnhausen 1986, pp. 75-82.

Web links

Commons : Synagogue  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scheuer, p. 81.
  2. ↑ Mühlinghaus, p. 20; Altaras, p. 330, assumes the continuity of the place with certainty.
  3. ↑ Mühlinghaus, p. 20.
  4. ↑ Altaras, p. 329.
  5. ↑ Mühlinghaus, p. 20.
  6. ↑ Mühlinghaus, p. 30.
  7. ↑ Mühlinghaus, p. 23.
  8. ↑ Altaras, p. 330.
  9. ^ Daniel Hanke: The history of the Jews in Gelnhausen 1933-1938. Pp. 302-308. On-line
  10. ↑ Altaras, p. 330.
  11. ↑ Scheuer, p. 81.
  12. ↑ Mühlinghaus, p. 23.
  13. ↑ Altaras, p. 330.
  14. ↑ Blumenröder, pp. 85f.
  15. ↑ Friedrich; Mühlinghaus, p. 22.
  16. ↑ Blumenröder, pp. 87ff.
  17. ↑ Blumenröder, p. 94.
  18. ↑ Blumenröder, p. 93ff.
  19. ^ Sold with foresight to Christians in: FAZ of September 24, 2011, page 67

Coordinates: 50 ° 12 ′ 6.1 ″  N , 9 ° 11 ′ 27.3 ″  E