Synagogue (Boppard)

The Boppard Synagogue is a former synagogue in Boppard . Since 2002 it has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site .

Edification

On July 30, 1853, the Boppard Jews founded a synagogue community. In 1862 this community bought an old house with a courtyard in Bingergasse for the sum of 462 thalers to build a synagogue. The purchase price was covered by a voluntary contribution from 1857 to this point among the Jewish families with 10 silver groschen per month each . In addition, the Jews brought in 500 thalers from their special funds. A collection in the city raised another 120 thalers. The city itself added 500 thalers to the building in two installments. With these funds, construction began, which was completed in August 1867 and inaugurated on September 6, 1867.

Heads of the community with the Ten Commandments or the Torah scroll came from the room in Rheingasse, which had previously served as a synagogue, and followed the rabbi and the town council to the new synagogue, which was decorated with green mayes and flags. Ben Israel, the rabbi from Koblenz, gave the speech and chaired the first service. In the afternoon there was lunch with music in the casino, the former society house, which was the meeting point of the liberal bourgeois circles of Boppard. A ball closed the ceremony.

Destruction of the synagogue

In the early evening of November 10, 1938, the synagogue was ransacked by SA men. The cult objects of the prayer house, in particular the Torah shrine and part of the interior furnishings, were destroyed, thrown onto the forecourt, poured over with gasoline and infected. The synagogue itself was not set on fire because of the proximity of the surrounding houses. The " Reichspogromnacht " began in Boppard . On Saturday, November 12th, 1938, the Jews taken into protective custody by the police were taken to the synagogue in a closed train in order not only to chop the destroyed objects in the courtyard into kindling, but also to further dismantle their church. On that day, the pillars that supported the women's balcony were sawed through, part of the wall covering was torn off and the floor panels were smashed.

This ultimately humiliating main destruction of the synagogue was demanded from the Jews under threat of armed violence two days after the “Reichspogromnacht”. These November riots marked the beginning of the Holocaust after a long period of discrimination, harassment and terror .

The building today

Restoration of the former synagogue

The synagogue, looted and destroyed, was reintegrated into the Boppard cityscape decades later. The building was acquired by master optician Robert Holz in 1990 and renovated and restored with a lot of understanding, skill and empathy for the history of the house based on collected old documents and information exclusively with own funds.

From 1938 until 1951, the building was occupied by Katharina Kaufmann, the Christian widow of the Jewish cattle dealer Emil Kaufmann, who last lived in the synagogue's house. In 1951, after it was sold by the Koblenz Jewish community to the carpenter Breitbach, it was used as a carpenter's workshop. When it was converted into a carpenter's shop, the building lost its distinctive appearance, which had remained unchanged until then. A tower tower and the front with the three high arched windows of the assembly hall disappeared with the renovation.

During the restoration of the synagogue building, Mr. Holz made sure that the building was recognizable in its original purpose. Although it was not possible to completely restore the previous appearance, the past was cleverly pointed out through visual references. This includes lead glazing, which brings to mind the distinctive arches of the three synagogue windows , chiseled keystones with the Star of David, the year of the inauguration and the destruction as well as the menorah above the current windows of the former assembly room. With roughly renovated sections, the former destruction is cleverly referred to.

A “memorial” was created, which not only includes the traces of construction and destruction, but also those of the conversion and renovation, which are part of the “fate” of the house. It was very important for Robert Holz to document the events after 1945 with the renovation. This includes the use as a carpenter's workshop from 1951 to 1979 as well as the conversion to a residential building from 1980 to 1984.

Use of the former synagogue

The former synagogue is used in combination as a residential and commercial building. The upper floors have been inhabited by the Robert Holz family since 1991.

From 1994 to 2004 there was an art gallery on the lower level of the building called "opti art gallery", in which regular exhibitions were shown under the motto "Art before eyes". In April 2000 the ophthalmic specialist "optiker Holz", which had been operating in Oberwesel since 1985, was relocated to the synagogue. For this purpose, the premises were changed at the end of 1999 for the new conditions. From 2003 to 2015 the Kunstverein Mittelrhein e. V. (KM 570) the place of business in the former synagogue. Today the former synagogue houses the optical specialist.

literature

"... and this is the gate of heaven". Synagogues in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . Edited by Stefan Fischbach u. a., ed. from the State Office for Monument Preservation Rhineland-Palatinate u. a., Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3313-7 , pp. 124–125 (memorial book of synagogues in Germany, vol. 2).
Hildburg-Helene Thill, Karl-Josef Burkard : Among the Jews. Eight hundred years of Jews in Boppard . Dausner, Boppard 1996, ISBN 3-930051-05-2 .

Web links

Commons : Synagoge (Boppard) - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ History Association for Middle Rhine and Vorderhunsrück (Ed.): From the old Boppard - A continuous chronicle for the years 1855 to 1876 by Wilhelm Schlad . Rhedruck, Boppard 1989.

50.230555555556 7.5949166666667Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 50 " N , 7 ° 35 ′ 41.7" E

[Schlad-Chronik-1] History Association for Middle Rhine and Vorderhunsrück (Ed.): From the old Boppard - A continuous chronicle for the years 1855 to 1876 by Wilhelm Schlad . Rhedruck, Boppard 1989.