Synagogue (Dirmstein)

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synagogue
Former synagogue, later converted into a residential building (view from the northwest, 2009)

Former synagogue, later converted into a residential building (view from the northwest, 2009)

Data
place Dirmstein
Builder Jewish community Dirmstein
Architectural style Moorish style before the renovation
Construction year 1856-1858
Coordinates 49 ° 33 '48.6 "  N , 8 ° 14' 53.8"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 33 '48.6 "  N , 8 ° 14' 53.8"  E
Synagogue (Rhineland-Palatinate)
synagogue

The synagogue in the Rhineland-Palatinate community of Dirmstein existed as a Jewish sacred building from 1858 to 1933. The building still exists today; because it has been rebuilt several times, it is not subject to monument protection .

Geographical location

The building, which is now used as a residential building, is on the corner of the Mitteltor street and the former Hildebrandstraße, not far from the Laurentiuskirche and diagonally opposite the Old Town Hall at 102  m above sea level. Above sea level.

history

From the first written testimony about a Jewish community - when the wealthy members were included in the Reich tax list in 1464 - the number of Jewish citizens was mostly a few dozen until the beginning of the 20th century. From 1738 at the latest, the Jewish community maintained a two-story "Judenschuhl" , which was used to describe the prayer room and school. During the time of the French occupation of the German areas on the left bank of the Rhine (1794–1815) the Jews did not receive the hoped-for equality, but at least they received more rights than before. As a result, more families moved here. While in 1833 an "Israelite angle school" was forbidden by the local authorities determined by the Kingdom of Bavaria since 1816, a school was allowed to be built for the "Synagogue District Dirmstein" six years later. In 1858 she had 28 students who came from Dirmstein and the neighboring communities of Heuchelheim , Gerolsheim , Laumersheim and Obersülzen .

The Jewish community had peaked at 129 in 1855 when the 29 family heads decided to build a new synagogue. Construction began in 1856 and took two years to complete. Financing turned out to be difficult, because a collection in all Jewish communities in Bavaria only yielded 460 guilders . In contrast, the Christian citizens of Dirmstein donated 600 guilders. Nevertheless, the bells of the neighboring Laurentiuskirche were not allowed to ring on September 4, 1858 for the inauguration of the synagogue; the episcopal ordinariate in Speyer had spoken out against it because "the initiation ... is to be regarded as a non-Christian act of faith."

Within the following two decades, the Jewish community shrank to 38 people due to emigration and emigration. As early as 1873, the Dirmsteiner religious community wanted to dissolve and join Bissersheim , but the Jews there refused to merge. Since 1913 the minyan could no longer be reached by ten men of religious age, and the congregation effectively ceased to exist.

The now unused synagogue building became more and more damaged as it was no longer maintained. At the end of 1932, the Dirmstein Jews joined the Frankenthal community and sold the property on January 23, 1933 for 3200 RM to the local master baker and later restaurateur Luitpold Kempf. Because of the change of ownership, it was not damaged during the National Socialist era .

In 1940 all Jews still living in Dirmstein were deported to southern France during the Wagner-Bürckel campaign . Those who did not die there - or who were able to flee, which three people succeeded in doing - were taken to the Auschwitz extermination camp in 1942 and fell victim to the Holocaust .

In 2009, nine stumbling blocks for deported Jews were laid in Dirmstein . The individual fates are recorded in the article listed below.

Building

The top floor of the originally two-story synagogue was later expanded under the gable roof and provided with a wide dormer to the north , so that the building became two and a half stories . In the past, three high windows with Moorish shapes divided the north side wall towards the street. The upper arches were highlighted by plastered horseshoe arches . A console frieze framed the facade, which was plastered over after 1933.

The building was repeatedly rebuilt from the ground up, with only the south-facing rear façade remaining original. Among other things, it served as a bank branch and as a fruit and vegetable store. The former function can no longer be seen in today's residential building.

literature

  • Rudolf H. Böttcher (böt): Moorish arches under a thick layer of plaster . In: The Rheinpfalz , Frankenthaler Zeitung . No. 267 , November 15, 2008.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
  2. ↑ Rudolf H. Böttcher (Boet): Moorish arches under thick layer of plaster . In: The Rheinpfalz , Frankenthaler Zeitung . No. 267 , November 15, 2008.
  3. ^ Synagogues D – F. 27 Dirmstein, 5 Bad Dürkheim district. Jewish Community of the Rhenish Palatinate, accessed on June 27, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Newspaper note without title . In: Frankenthaler Zeitung . Frankenthal January 24, 1933, p. 3 .