Synagogue (Weiden in the Upper Palatinate)
The Synagogue of Weiden is the synagogue of the Jewish community Weiden in the city of Weiden in the Upper Palatinate in the northern Upper Palatinate . It was built in 1889 at Ringstrasse 17, where it is still located today.
history
From 1860 Jews began to settle in Weiden. They first attended the services in the synagogue in Floß . Then they set up a prayer room in Joseph Wilmersdörfer's house. They held services there from 1882 to 1889.
In 1889 a synagogue association was founded in Weiden. This year, a synagogue was built and inaugurated at Ringstrasse 17 according to plans by the Weiden architect Peter Weiß. The construction time was only five months. The synagogue was not designed as a free-standing building, but is a two-story row house that fits seamlessly into the front of the house.
The synagogue was inaugurated on September 20, 1889. The sermon was given by Rabbi Israel Wittelshöfer from the Jewish community in Floß .
In 1903 Heinrich Bloch donated a Torah scroll to the synagogue on the occasion of the birth of his daughter .
In 1905 the synagogue hall was expanded and an emergency exit with an iron emergency staircase was built on the courtyard side for safety reasons.
During the pogrom on November 9, 1938 , the interior of the synagogue in Ringstrasse was destroyed, but the synagogue was not set on fire because the Weiden mayor feared the flames would spread to neighboring houses. Two Torah scrolls were saved and brought to Regensburg. The synagogue building was then sold. At first it served as a commercial building, then as a warehouse for a sugar factory.
It was not until 1948 that the former synagogue was used again as such with the help of the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (abbreviated: JRSO). In the end 2 of the earlier 8 Torah scrolls and some ritual silver were returned. In 1948 the synagogue was restored. Today (2016) there are plans to build a new community center.
Furnishing
After the synagogue was built in 1889, it was a two-story row house with Gothic-style pointed arched windows on the first floor. The basement was used as an apartment for the caretaker. The school and the apartment for the teacher were on the mezzanine floor. The synagogue hall and another room were located on the upper floor. In the synagogue hall, according to Reformed ideas, the Torah shrine and Almemor stood next to each other. The men's and women's areas were only separated from each other by a grid.
During the renovation in 1905, the synagogue hall was expanded to include a separate room.
After the desecration by the National Socialists in 1938, the pointed arch windows were replaced by rectangular windows.
When the synagogue was returned to the Jewish community in 1948, these rectangular windows remained. Julian Pfeiffer from Bedzin Kattowitz painted the prayer room. He designed the ceiling with a double zodiac , a symbol that can be found in some synagogues of late antiquity as a floor pattern. He painted the walls with fantasy landscapes reminiscent of Palestine.
Today (2016) the synagogue looks no different from an ordinary residential building. A closer look reveals a star of David and a menorah only in the decoration of the front door .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Hans-Christoph Dittscheid: The synagogue buildings of the Upper Palatinate from the Middle Ages to the modern age. Losses - discoveries - interpretations. In: Michael Brenner , Renate Höpfinger (Hrsg.): The Jews in the Upper Palatinate. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58678-7 , pp. 46, 47.
- ↑ a b c Weiden (Upper Palatinate): Jewish history / synagogues. Alemannia Judaica, accessed February 22, 2016.
- ↑ a b Sebastian Schott: The history of the Jewish community Weiden up to the middle of the 20th century. In: Michael Brenner, Renate Höpfinger (Hrsg.): The Jews in the Upper Palatinate. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58678-7 , pp. 105-118.
- ↑ a b jg-weiden.de ( Memento of the original from February 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 33.4 " N , 12 ° 9 ′ 27.7" E