Brilon synagogue
The Brilon Synagogue was a Jewish assembly and church for prayer , scripture study and instruction in Brilon in the Hochsauerland district ( North Rhine-Westphalia ).
History and architecture
From 1910 to 1929, until the new synagogue was built , a half-timbered extension of the house at Marktstrasse 16 served as a meeting room. The condition has meanwhile been changed by two fundamental modifications.
The new synagogue was slightly raised between the Kreuziger Mauer and Hubertusstrasse. It was built with the active help of the building authority and the city administration. The building site was given to the Jewish community by the city. According to the building description, the foundation was made of rubble stones , and ring furnace stones were used for the remaining walls . The basement floor and the heating ducts were made of stamped concrete . The ceiling above was made of T-iron with arched fields. The floor of the gallery and the stairwell ceilings were wooden beam ceilings with trellis plaster. The outer walls were plastered with white plaster. Inside, the long walls were divided by four arched windows that faced each other in pairs. The pillars inside were cast from reinforced concrete . The roof was covered with slate on fir wood formwork. Very large stoves in the basement heated the building. The solid oak entrance door was covered with velvet on the inside and was accessible via a platform staircase with 18 steps. The interior walls were smoothly cleaned. The school room for the Jewish children was housed in the extension with two windows facing the Kreuziger Mauer, the main room was accessible through a connecting door. In this classroom the children up to the age of 13 were instructed in the Jewish religion . A service was only allowed to take place in the presence of at least ten adult men ( minyan ). Men and boys gathered on the ground floor, women and girls on the 30 m² gallery. The synagogue was inaugurated on May 10, 1931.
Furnishing
The Torah was kept in the Aron ha-Qodesch , which was located in the semicircular apse on the dais with a semi-dome vaulting .
Original planning
The building was originally planned to be larger. The draft of April 15, 1920, which was approved by the building authorities, provided for an octagonal tower 15.8 m high; the dais was supposed to end in three apses. The execution was more modest, presumably for financial reasons. It was built on the same area, but without two apses. Instead of the tower, the building was given a hipped roof with a ridge height of 11.1 m. The extension with a saddle roof was reduced from 11 m to 9 m. The two apsidal windows planned to illuminate the dais were omitted. Since the tower was not built, the two circular windows with a diameter of 1.8 m and adorned with a Star of David were not used.
First assaults
From 1937 and especially 1938, the service was disrupted and the building was damaged. The synagogue windows were thrown in from time to time by agitated children; insurance companies were on the verge of refusing services. A few months before the pogrom night , large frames with tight galvanized wire were attached to prevent the stones from penetrating.
Fire in the synagogue
On the night of November 9-10, 1938, the residents around the synagogue were woken up by noise. Men tried to break open the oak door, which at first failed. Heavy iron implements were brought in and the door was forcibly opened. Another group of burglars entered the classroom. The benches were smashed, taken through the connecting room into the synagogue and doused with gasoline. According to witnesses, the petrol had previously been collected in canisters from the petrol station at Quellenhof. About 20 to 30 men, most of them in SA uniform , smashed windows and lamps. Shortly afterwards the building burned in several places. The fire brigade, who appeared later, was not allowed to extinguish the fire on instructions, but had to direct the water jet sideways. The synagogue burned down to the walls, which were later blown up. The basement ceiling was torn down and the rooms below were filled with rubble. The cellar vaults are still there, the foundations are now about a meter below the ground.
After that
The synagogue remains with space were bought on November 11, 1938 by the town of Brilon for the synagogue community for 1,665 Reichsmarks. The purchase price was never paid.
On April 13, 1939, the city of Brilon announced in a secret letter: Re .: ruins of synagogues of Jewish religious associations. Available from April 11, 1939.
To the district administrator in Brilon. The ruins of the synagogue of the local Jewish community have been removed.
Claim for compensation
The Jewish Trust Corporation Germany applied for compensation for the Jewish community in Brilon, the city of Brilon replied as follows:
Re: reparation according to the Federal Law on Compensation for Victims of National Socialist Persecution (Bundesentschädigungs -BEG) of June 29, 1956; here: Compensation application for the Jewish community in Brilon.
Previous: Order of November 26, 1957 - II / 062-20 No. 369 -
The above ruling is reported as follows:
1) The Synagogue Community of Brilon was registered as the owner of the synagogue in Brilon
2) The property was donated to the Synagogue Community of Brilon by the City of Brilon in 1930 for the construction of a synagogue. After the synagogue burned down on November 8, 1938, the legal representatives of the Brilon synagogue community concluded a purchase agreement with the city of Brilon on November 11, 1938. Thereafter, the parcel became the property of the city on April 22, 1941. The purchase price stated in the sales contract was not paid at the time. For the final unblocking (matter of reimbursement) of the property, an appointment was made before the reparation office at the regional court in Arnsberg on January 4, 1952. A copy of the negotiation record and a copy of the purchase contract are included.
3) The structural condition of the synagogue was good. The building was destroyed by fire on the night of November 8th to 9th, 1938. Nothing is known here about the course of the destruction. Also, no persons are known who participated in the destruction.
4) Nor can it be said about the furnishings that are said to have been in the synagogue and whether anything was saved from them .
This decision was made even though contemporary witnesses were known who could provide more information.
The Jewish community was wiped out by National Socialist terror. In 1946 only two Jewish citizens lived in Brilon.
Memorial stone
The monument is a white cuboid with a large gap in the middle. The bronze plaque that was on the original memorial stone was placed on the new memorial on the persecution of the Jews . It bears the inscription: The place you stand on is holy ground EX 3.5 . Underneath a Star of David, then follows: The synagogue of the Brilon Jewish community has stood here since 1929. It was destroyed by the National Socialists in the pogrom night on November 9, 1938. Another side has a large plaque with the names and years of birth of the 103 murdered Brilon Jews. The data was burned out of a large stainless steel plate with a laser beam. A third plate commemorates the inauguration. The torn cube symbolizes the division and destruction of society.
See also
literature
- Sigrid Blömeke, Hans-Günther Bracht, Gisela Kemper, with the collaboration of Wolfgang Arnolds: Jews in Brilon at the time of National Socialism. Documents, family fates, testimonies from contemporary witnesses. Democratic Initiative, Association for the Promotion of Social, Cultural and Political Education e. V., Brilon 1988, ISBN 3-9801960-0-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sigrid Blömeke, Hans-Günther Bracht, Gisela Kemper, with the collaboration of Wolfgang Arnolds: Jews in Brilon at the time of National Socialism. Publisher: Democratic Initiative Association for the Promotion of Social, Cultural and Political Education e. V. Brilon, ISBN 3-9801960-0-3 , page 72.
- ↑ 750 years of the city of Brilon, 1220 to 1970 , pp. 131, 132.
Coordinates: 51 ° 23 ′ 49.9 " N , 8 ° 34 ′ 19.9" E