Synagogue (Rheda)
The Rheda Synagogue in Rheda, today part of Rheda-Wiedenbrück in the Gütersloh district , was a Westphalian state synagogue. The Jewish temple was consecrated in 1802 and fell on 10 November 1938. at 3am during the November pogroms of arson by Nazi victims.
history
Documents prove the presence of Jews in the region from the Middle Ages . After their temporary expulsion, letters of protection were distributed again in Rheda from the early 18th century. The appointment of a ruler in 1781 testifies to the establishment of a Jewish community . In 1853 the formal establishment of the Rheda synagogue district, which also included the parishes of Herzebrock , Wiedenbrück and Langenberg , was established.
After a wooden round building was initially used as a place of prayer, a plot of land on Steinweg was acquired from the sovereign in 1802, on which a half-timbered synagogue was built in the same year. In 1860 a Jewish school was built in the immediate vicinity. On the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the synagogue, the house of God was renovated in 1902 (as in the years 1843 and 1845).
In the early morning hours of November 10, 1938, members of the SA , who had previously gathered in the neighboring Neuhaus restaurant, set fire to the Rheda synagogue. The remains were demolished and the property sold.
Architecture and furnishings
The synagogue was a simple half-timbered building with a rectangular floor plan. In the east there was an annex for the Torah shrine . Two rounded windows each provided daylight to the prayer room in the north, east and south. The ceiling, painted blue, was decorated with gold stars. A seldom used women's gallery on the upper floor and a harmonium were also part of the synagogue's furnishings.
Remembering the synagogue
On August 27, 1980, a memorial stone was erected on the former site of the church. It contains the following inscription: “This is where the church of the synagogue community of Rheda stood, which was willfully destroyed by the National Socialists on November 9, 1938. The place you stand on is holy ground. ”The memorial speech was given by the Hebraist Werner Weinberg , who was born in Rheda .
See also
literature
- Jehuda Barlev: About the early history of the Jewish community Rheda. In: Gütersloher contributions to local and regional studies. 56/57, December 1979, ISSN 0722-3161 , pp. 1118-1121.
- Günter Birkmann, Hartmut Stratmann, Thomas Kohlpoth: Consider who you are standing in front of. 300 synagogues and their history in Westphalia and Lippe. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-661-8 .
- Michael Brocke (Ed.): Put a fire on your sanctuary. Destroyed synagogues in 1938. North Rhine-Westphalia. Developed by the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History. Kamp, Bochum 1999, ISBN 3-89709-200-X ( Memorial Book of Synagogues Germany 1938 1).
- Elisabeth Hanschmidt: Documentation for the exhibition Jews and Jewish life in Rheda. Self-published, Rheda-Wiedenbrück 1995.
- Jürgen Kindler among other things: The history of the Rhedaer Judengemeinde. Self-published, Rheda-Wiedenbrück 1988 ( Rhedaer Schriften 2, ZDB -ID 2292437-1 )
- Joachim Meynert (Ed.): A mirror of your own self. Testimonials from anti-Semitic persecution . Pendragon, Brackwede near Bielefeld 1988, ISBN 3-923306-71-7 ( Pendragon documents ).
- Werner Weinberg : Rhedaer Schmus . Historical working group of the Heimatverein, Rheda-Wiedenbrück 1986 ( Rhedaer Schriften 1).
- Werner Weinberg: Wounds that are not allowed to heal. A survivor's message. Translated from the American. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau et al. 1988, ISBN 3-451-21317-6 .
- Käte Werner: We are all human . Edition Olympia, Tel Aviv n.d.
- Photo Archive of the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Center Yad Vashem: http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/77312.html
Coordinates: 51 ° 51 ′ 5 " N , 8 ° 17 ′ 38.5" E