Synagogue (Sennfeld)

Profane synagogue in Sennfeld

The synagogue in Sennfeld , a district of Adelsheim in the Neckar-Odenwald district in Baden-Württemberg , was built in 1835/36. The secular synagogue is located at Hauptstrasse 43.

history

The Jewish community of Sennfeld owned a synagogue as early as the 18th century. Since this had become too small for the growing number of parishioners, a new building was built in the same place in 1835/36. In the new synagogue there was a prayer room as well as a ritual bath ( mikveh ), a classroom for the Jewish school and a teacher's apartment.

architecture

The synagogue in Sennfeld is a solid building made of local shell limestone . An outside staircase leads inside through a basket arch portal . The following inscription was engraved on the arch of the portal: This is the gate to the Lord, through it the righteous enter ( Psalm 118 : 20).

The prayer room is reached through a corridor. The classroom was originally located on the right side of the corridor and the old and new mikveh are in the two rooms on the left. Both were restored to their original state during the renovation work in 1992.

The prayer room was a rectangular room with a width of 8.90 m and a length of 11.25 m. The floor was made of red sandstone slabs . The bima stood in the aisle in front of the Torah shrine . The women's gallery could be reached via a staircase that also led to the teacher's apartment on the first floor. On the second floor there was a guest room and a large attic where a geniza was found in the floor during renovation work .

time of the nationalsocialism

During the November pogroms in 1938 , the interior of the synagogue was destroyed by SA men. The cult objects were thrown on the street and also destroyed. In February 1940 the synagogue was sold to the Sennfeld political community.

During the Second World War , the building was used as a cinema and prisoner of war camp.

Current condition

After the reimbursement to the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO), the synagogue was sold to the Catholic parish of Adelsheim in 1951. After a Catholic church was built in Sennfeld, the Sennfeld municipality bought the building. After various uses and extensive renovations, the building has served as a local museum and memorial to the history of the Jewish community in Sennfeld since 2001 .

Commemoration

On November 9, 1991, a memorial plaque was placed above the foundation stone in memory of the synagogue and the deportation of the Jews from Sennfeld in 1940.

literature

Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Volume 3: Ochtrup - Zwittau. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08079-6 ( online edition ).
Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger : Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 , pp. 7–9 ( Memorial book of the synagogues in Germany . Volume 4).