Synagogue (Norderney)
The former synagogue of Norderney existed from 1878 to 1933. There was no independent community on the island. The Jews living on the island were part of the Northern community on the mainland. Jewish bathers financed the construction of the synagogue on the island, which was then supported by an association. After 1933, there was no longer any service in the building. On July 11, 1938, Land Rabbi Blum sold the building to a Norderneyer hardware dealer for 3500 Reichsmarks on condition that all references to the synagogue be removed. The synagogue thus escaped the actions in connection with the November pogroms . SA men are said to have tried to remove the Star of David from the gable, but they did not succeed. On November 10, 1938, the SA rounded up the island's Jews and led them to a fenced-in place in front of what is now the island's house . They had to stand there all day. In the evening they could go home: In contrast to the other Jews of East Friesland, they were not deported because the local SA did not have any instructions. However, most of the Jews left the island in the months that followed. The last remaining Jews were two women who were married to non-Jews. They too left Norderney in April 1941 at the latest. Today there is a restaurant in the completely renovated building on Schmiedestrasse. A commemorative plaque has been commemorating the former use of the house since 1996.
Building description
Architecturally, the Norderneyer synagogue corresponded to the structure of a traditional synagogue. The outside was a simple brick building. In its interior, which was entered via an anteroom, there were 88 seats for men in the lower area. The women's gallery was mounted above it like a balcony. According to an article in the magazine Der Israelit on August 7, 1930, the items of equipment included all “sacred utensils that belong to a house of God. Many coats and blankets bear well-known Frankfurt names in gold letters on red velvet. "
history
Norderney became the first German North Sea spa in 1797 . It was already considered friendly to Jews early on. Jewish bathers have also been found on the island since 1820. In their wake, Jews settled on the island to cater to their special needs such as kosher food. For example, the butcher Abraham von der Wall bought a house on the island in 1845 and settled there. From the end of the 1850s he also made his house available for church services. Abraham van der Wall advertised this room in an advertisement that appeared in the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums on June 6, 1859 : “There is also a suitable prayer room with a Torah .” The number of Jewish guests on the island rose in the period that followed strong. In the period before the First World War , the proportion of Jewish spa guests, including guests from Russia and other Eastern European countries, was at least a third of those looking for relaxation on Norderney. This brought the seaside resort, along with Westerland / Sylt and Heringsdorf / Usedom, the reputation of a “ Jewish bath ”.
On Norderney, however, no independent synagogue community emerged: the Jews living here were members of the synagogue community in Norden , in whose cemetery the Norderney Jews also buried their deceased community members. As late as 1932 the Führer named Norderney separately in the list of Jewish communities through the Jewish community administration , but emphasized: “No independent community. In terms of taxation, (Norderney) belongs to the Synagogue Community of Norden ”.
From 1877, there were efforts among the Jewish spa guests to build a synagogue for the Jews living on the island and the guests visiting . Land rabbi Buchholz justified the project on December 24, 1877 in a letter to the Landdrostei in Aurich : “For a long time there has been a private synagogue on the island of Norderney in the house of vd Wall, who lives there, to hold services for the bathers of Jewish faith. This prayer room, however, has many ailments, especially because of its limited space it is harmful to the health of those who gather for prayer, which is why it has long been the wish of the guests of Jewish faith who visit the bath every year that a worthy place of worship be built on Norderney ”. However, this was rejected by the responsible finance department in Hanover, because they refused to provide a plot of land free of charge.
In order to be able to build a synagogue on the island, an association was founded. This association under the name “Committee for the Promotion of Synagogue Construction” was finally able to acquire a piece of land. In a letter from the governor in Norden to the Königliche Landdrostei in Aurich on October 17, 1877, it says: “In 1877 a committee was founded to promote the building of a Jewish temple on Norderney, headed by a merchant M. Bargebuhr from Harburg and a Dr. phil. Rosin stands in Wroclaw , which was bought into the possession of private land on which the construction is to be carried out ” . Even after that, many other bureaucratic hurdles had to be overcome for the construction, which was also overcome thanks to the intervention of two ministers, the Prussian minister of education Adalbert Falk and the minister of agriculture Karl Rudolf Friedenthal . After the “Committee for the Promotion of the Synagogue Building” also stated that the synagogue building was not planning an independent synagogue community and the maintenance of the synagogue was secured by the association, the building was finally approved.
The synagogue was built in 1878, based on a special decree of Emperor Wilhelm I and financed by donations from wealthy Jewish bathers. The building was designed by the renowned Hanoverian architect Edwin Oppler . Numerous prominent guests were present at the inauguration of the synagogue, including the Prussian Minister of Justice Adolph Leonhardt . The sponsorship was transferred to the Synagogue Foundation by special decree of Kaiser Wilhelm I, since the Jewish community in the north, which already had its own synagogue , did not want to assume the running costs and the financing of maintenance costs. The statute of this foundation stated that the Jewish residents of the island did not have to pay any fees for the synagogue. They continued to pay taxes to the Norder community and shared its facilities such as the cemetery. They were not allowed to set up their own cemetery on the island in 1887.
The new synagogue was only open in the summer months; the private prayer house was still used in winter. A bathing letter published by Israelit in 1930 describes the religious and social life around the synagogue. Accordingly, services were held daily during the season. The prerequisite for this - reaching the ten number of adult Jewish men ( minyan ) required for a worship service - was obviously given. In addition, the Synagogue Foundation invited to daily Torah studies and religious lectures in the building. According to the information in the bathing letter, however, religious life was almost exclusively carried by bathers. Outside of the season it practically did not take place. The high Jewish holidays are the high point of the season after which the synagogue “goes into hibernation for six months.” Until 1933, this synagogue served as a prayer room for Jewish bathers.
From 1933, the Norderney's spa and bathing administration tried to free itself from this reputation, which was now perceived as a stigma, as a Jewish bath with a series of measures. In the same year, for example, it brought out a postage stamp with the inscription “Nordseebad Norderney is free of Jews”. At the same time, the spa administration had sent letters to Jewish newspapers in which, among other things, a. meant “that Jewish spa guests are not welcome on Norderney. Should Jews nevertheless try to find accommodation in Norderney in the coming summer, they have to bear the responsibility themselves. In the event of friction, the bathing administration would have to expel the Jews from the island immediately in the interest of the bath and the German spa guests present. ”This led to a complete collapse in the number of Jewish guests on the island and subsequently to the ruin of the Jewish business, Restaurant and hotel owners on Norderney. The synagogue remained unused from 1933. The Norderneyer Jew Heinz Hoffmann recovered the Torah scrolls from the synagogue in Norderney in November 1933 and brought them to Emden before he and his family moved to Leipzig. In 1936 he fled Germany and emigrated from Amsterdam to Palestine in 1939. On July 11, 1938, Land Rabbi Blum sold the building to a Norderneyer hardware dealer for 3500 Reichsmarks on condition that all references to the synagogue be removed. The synagogue itself was spared the actions in connection with the November pogroms, but SA men are said to have tried to remove the Star of David from the gable, but they did not succeed. The new owner had the building converted into a storage room after the November pogroms.
After 1945 the synagogue building was used as a discotheque, an Argentine steak house and later as an Italian restaurant. Today there is a restaurant in the completely renovated building. Only the northern wall of the original building is preserved in its original state. A commemorative plaque to the right of the entrance door has been a reminder since 1996 of the former use of the house at Schmiedestrasse 6. It was attached to the facade of the building at the suggestion of the Evangelical Youth of Norderney. and bears the inscription:
“ Former synagogue (1878–1933)
This building was built as a house of prayer for Jewish
citizens and guests.
Sold in July 1938 , it escaped destruction in the pogrom night
of November 9th of the year
In Remembrance and Commemoration. "
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Alemannia Judaica: Norderney (Aurich district, East Frisia) Jewish history / synagogue . Online at www.alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
- ↑ Jews on Norderney . Friends of the Museum Nordseeheilbad Norderney eV. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
- ^ A b Martin Tielke: Judeninsel Norderney . In: Herbert Reyer and Martin Tielke (eds.): Frisia Judaica. Contributions to the history of the Jews in East Frisia . Treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia . Vol. 67. Aurich 1988. pp. 191-213.
- ^ A b c Daniel Fraenkel: North / Norderney. In: Herbert Obenaus (Ed. In collaboration with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . Wallstein, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-753-5 , pp. 1122-1139.
- ↑ STAA, Rep. 15 12626
- ↑ Lisa Andryszak, Christiane Bramkamp (ed.): Jüdisches Leben auf Norderney. Presence, diversity and exclusion . Publications of the Center for Religious Studies Münster 2016. ISBN 978-3-643-12676-4 , p. 49f
- ↑ Frank Bajohr: Our hotel is free of Jews . Baths anti-Semitism in the 19th and 20th centuries, 2nd edition Frankfurt a. M. 2003, p. 117.
- ↑ Ingeborg Pauluhn: On the history of the Jews on Norderney. From acceptance to disintegration. with documents and historical materials . Oldenburg 2003. 240 pages. ISBN 3-89621-176-5 , p. 49
Coordinates: 53 ° 42 ′ 28.6 " N , 7 ° 8 ′ 38.3" E