Synagogue (Bad Buchau)

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Postcard from Bad Buchau (before 1906), the synagogue in front
Detail from a postcard (before 1911)
Remains of the destroyed synagogue in the Jewish cemetery in Bad Buchau

The former synagogue in Bad Buchau in the Biberach district in Upper Swabia was built in 1838/39 and destroyed in the Nazi era in 1938.

history

The oldest Jewish prayer room on the territory of the free-world Buchau women's monastery already existed in the 15th century. A later prayer room was on the upper floor of Schussenrieder Strasse 6 and the last prayer room used before the construction of the first synagogue was in the Judengasse 6 building . There is still a room on the second floor that has a coffered ceiling painted with flowers with movable fields that were opened on the Feast of Tabernacles .

The first synagogue in Buchau was built in 1730/31 at the entrance to Judengasse and the corner of Schussenrieder Strasse. In the 1830s this synagogue turned out to be too small, because the Jewish community of Bad Buchau now had around 600 members. At that time it was the largest Jewish community in the Kingdom of Württemberg . From 1838, the new building was carried out at 17 Schussenrieder Strasse according to the plans of the Buchauer foreman Alex Bauer. The construction costs amounted to 23,092 guilders , with the Württemberg king, Prince von Thurn und Taxis and Herr von Rothschild from Frankfurt also donating money. On August 30, 1839, the synagogue was inaugurated by the then Rabbi Moses Bloch in the presence of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg .

The synagogue in Buchau was also used by Jews from Leutkirch im Allgäu , Ravensburg , Riedlingen , Saulgau and Wangen im Allgäu .

architecture

The new synagogue was built throughout in the neoclassical style. The main facade had three portals over which there were arched windows . In the middle of the gable triangle was a semicircular window and on the roof, unusual for a synagogue, a roof turret with a bell , carillon and clock was placed. This led to intense controversy within the Jewish community. In addition to the Buchau synagogue, there are synagogues with bells only in Rome and Gibraltar .

In 1864 an organ was installed and a synagogue choir was founded at the same time . The following inscription was written in Hebrew and German above the entrances to the synagogue : Praise God in his sanctuary ( Psalm 150 : 1).

November pogrom 1938

In the pogrom night on 9/10 In November 1938 the synagogue was set on fire by SA men from Ochsenhausen . The fire was extinguished by the local fire brigade and the population. On the night of November 10-11, 1938, the fire was started again and this time the fire brigade was only allowed to protect the surrounding houses. On November 18, 1938, Ulm Wehrmacht pioneers blew up the ruins. The Jewish community had to pay the cost of the demolition of 6000 Reichsmarks .

In March 1948, the Ravensburg Regional Court sentenced the SA leader and NSDAP Reichstag deputy Erich Hagenmeyer to four and a half years in prison for destroying the synagogue .

Commemoration

After 1945, Siegbert Einstein, a great-nephew of Albert Einstein , bought the site and planted a weeping willow where the Torah shrine had stood. In 1981 a memorial stone was erected and in 1990 a plaque in memory of the Jewish community was inaugurated.

Rabbi of Buchau

  • Moses Bloch (1804–1841), rabbi from 1834 to 1841

See also

literature

  • Charlotte Mayenberger: Jews in Buchau . (District of Biberach - History and Culture, Volume 8), Federsee-Verlag, Bad Buchau 2008. [not evaluated]
  • Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger : Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 , pp. 14–16 ( Memorial Book of Synagogues in Germany . Volume 4).

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sabine Schmidt: Erich Hagenmeyer. Police director from 1943–1945. In: Hans Eugen Specker (Ed.): Ulm in the Second World War , (= research on the history of the city. Documentation series, Volume 6) Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-17-009254-5 , pp. 473–476, here p 475.

Coordinates: 48 ° 3 '52.7 "  N , 9 ° 36' 40.1"  E