Synagogue (Colmar)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Synagogue in Colmar

The synagogue in Colmar , the capital of the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace ( France ), was inaugurated in September 1843. It is located at number 3 rue de la Cicogne. Since July 11, 1984, it has been protected as a Monument Historique .

history

It is known as early as 1279 that the first synagogue in Colmar burned down and was then rebuilt. It was in Judenschulgasse. During the persecution during the plague it was confiscated in 1349 and from the second half of the 14th century until the expulsion in 1511/12 there was a synagogue in a corner house in Judengasse , today Rue Berthe Molly.

At the beginning of the 19th century a prayer room was set up in the "guild room of the farmers" and in 1843 the new synagogue was inaugurated. It was renovated in 1885 and 1913 and repaired after the National Socialist era . It is still the center of the Jewish community in Colmar today .

architecture

The new monumental synagogue was built in the neo-Romanesque style and is the only synagogue in Alsace to have a small bell on the roof. The free-standing building is located on a plot of land at the narrow end of which three streets open, so that the synagogue is visible from afar. The forecourt is surrounded by a wall and you enter the property through a high iron door. The portal on this clearly visible side has a semicircular skylight and is particularly emphasized by a decorative frame made of fluted pilasters made of local red sandstone . Above it is a French and Hebrew inscription. The portal is flanked on both sides by arched windows. After a cornice and a frieze made of sandstone slabs there is a triple arched window with lead glazing . The middle window shows the tablets of the Law and a Star of David above . After another cornice and sandstone masonry on which a clock is attached, the triangular pediment accented with sandstone follows in the middle of which there is a round window.

The long sides of the synagogue are kept simple and have eight arched windows each on the ground floor and on the first floor. This gives the inside of the synagogue a lot of daylight.

The three-sided gallery is supported by columns with simple capitals . In a central position, in the middle of the wide aisle, is the bima and at the end, opposite the portal, the Torah shrine . The benches of the believers are under the galleries for the men and on the galleries for the women.

time of the nationalsocialism

During the German occupation of Alsace in World War II , the synagogue was looted and devastated. It was then used as a storage room.

Commemoration

On the wall of the synagogue property there is a memorial plaque for the victims of the National Socialist persecution from 1940 to 1944.

literature

  • Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Volume 1: Aach - Groß-Bieberau. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08077-2 ( online version ).
  • Jean Daltroff: La route du judaïsme en Alsace . ID-L'Édition, 2nd edition, Bernardswiller 2010, ISBN 2-915626-02-2 , pp. 62-63.

Web links

Commons : Synagogue (Colmar)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 4 ′ 37.2 ″  N , 7 ° 21 ′ 45 ″  E