Grünstadt synagogue

Grünstadt synagogue
	; Grünstadt, former synagogue, from the northeast
Data
place	Grünstadt
Architectural style	Late baroque
Construction year	1749-1757
Coordinates	49 ° 33 '54.5 " N , 8 ° 9' 51.2" E Coordinates: 49 ° 33 '54.5 " N , 8 ° 9' 51.2" E

Grünstadt, former synagogue, east facade

Memorial plaque on the former synagogue in Grünstadt

The former synagogue in Grünstadt , in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Bad Dürkheim , is a baroque sacred building that was profaned after 1938 and is now used as a commercial building.

history

Grünstadt had an old and large Jewish community . Between 1548 and 1555 a Jew named Jacob had a letter of protection here. In 1569 a doctor was called "Jacob Juden" and in 1601 an Israelite was called "Moshe" . The city's first register of residents, dated December 12, 1608, already names three Jewish families; in 1612, a "Jew from Grünstadt in the County of Leiningen" was accepted as a citizen in the Franconian town of Leutershausen . In a collection book in favor of the reconstruction of the Worms synagogue , which was burned down by the French in 1689, a Jewish community in Grünstadt is mentioned for the first time in 1698; in the 19th century it was one of the most important in the Palatinate . In 1804 there were 165 Jewish residents, in 1848 there were 85 families with a total of 473 people. After that, the number decreased due to emigration and emigration. In 1875 there were 348 Jews in Grünstadt, in 1900 there were 182 and in 1925 only 144 Jewish people. The Jewish cemetery on the eastern edge of the city was laid out around 1700; the oldest surviving tombstone dates from 1743.

In 1741 the local Jewish community bought a house at the current location and had their synagogue built there from 1749–1757 . The building was rebuilt and renovated several times up to the 20th century, its current appearance dates back to around 1790. In the early 19th century, Jacob Fränkel (1808–1887) from Grünstadt worked here as cantor ; in 1862 he became the first official military rabbi in the US Army . In order to swear an oath to the Jews on behalf of the Frankenthal District Court , according to a contemporary report in the Frankfurter Journal , the Grünstadt district judge had the locked synagogue and its Torah shrine forcibly broken open in February 1859 without first asking for admission. A renovation of the Synagogue in Grünstadt, documented by the Yearbook for Israelites , in the summer of the same year may be related to the damage that had previously occurred.

At times it was intended to demolish the synagogue and replace it with a new building. In the newspaper " Der Israelit " of March 8, 1900 it says:

“ The past Sabbath Parashat Shekalim was actually a 'good Shabbos' for the local community; because the last jewelry was inaugurated on him, bringing the renovation of our church to a worthy conclusion. Years ago people thought about dedicating a new place to the service of God here as well. Only the consideration for the unaffordable sacrifices that would result from this for our not particularly prosperous community did not allow this laudable intention to come about. Our congregation had to be content with having an interior beautification of our old church carried out last summer. "

The Synagogue in Grünstadt was looted in 1938 as part of the Reichskristallnacht . Windows and interior fittings were destroyed, the harmonium was thrown from the gallery and files and Torah scrolls were burned on the nearby Luitpoldplatz. In 1939 the house of God was privately owned for 2,000 Reichsmarks and served as a storage room until the 1970s. During this time the two large arched windows on the east side were walled up in the lower half. Then the synagogue was supposed to be torn down, but that didn't happen. An investor was found who converted the building into a commercial building from 1979–1981. The installation of arched gates and the removal of the lower parts of the garments of the two long windows resulted in a significant intervention in the structure of the east facade. It was not until 1986 that the former synagogue was listed as a historical monument; on November 10, 1988, the city of Grünstadt had a memorial plaque put up.

Building stock

It is a flat, barrel-vaulted, rectangular plastered building with a gable roof. There are gable walls to the west and east, the main facade is on the east side, the original (now walled up) entrance on the north side.

The east facade has three round windows with simply profiled sandstone walls in the gable area . Below (on today's upper floor) there are five baroque arched windows, also with profiled sandstone walls, each of which has a protruding apex stone in the shape of a trapezoid . The first and third windows from the south are slightly wider than the others, and they originally extended to the ground floor. Since the renovation in 1979, three arched doors have been broken into the wall, which serve as entrances to today's commercial building. There are three short arched windows on the north side. There was also the former main entrance, a rectangular door wall with a crown stone that remained visible when walled up. The two corners of the east facade are rusticated with rectangular sandstone blocks . Inside, sheet metal rosettes from the 19th century have been preserved on the ceiling.

Despite the profanation and the renovations, the character of a late baroque synagogue building, which is rare in the region today, remained.

The synagogue has the address “Östlicher Graben 19” , but the section of the ditch that runs past it was traditionally called “Synagogengasse” in Grünstadt . The opposite houses were later demolished and the space created in front of the building has been officially called "Synagogenplatz" since 2014 .

literature

Kyra Schilling: Jewish life in Grünstadt , Protestant parish Grünstadt, 2007

Web links

Grünstadt Synagogue near Alemannia Judaica
Synagogue Grünstadt at www.jüdische-gemeinden.de

Individual evidence

^ Publications of the Palatinate Society for the Promotion of Science in Speyer am Rhein , Volume 56, 1967, p. 18; (Detail scan)
^ Annual report of the Historical Association for Middle Franconia , Volume 9, Nuremberg, 1839, p. 85; (Digital scan)
^ Website on the Grünstadt Jewish Cemetery
^ Website of the Jewish community of the Rhine Palatinate, with its own section on the Grünstadt synagogue
^ Biographical website on Jacob Frankel
^ Arnold Vogt: Religion in the military , 1984, p. 719, ISBN 3820451854 ; (Detail scan of the activity as a cantor at the Synagogue Grünstadt)
^ Supplement to the Frankfurter Journal , No. 78, from March 19, 1859; (Digital scan)
^ K. Klein: People's calendar and yearbook for Israelites for the year 5620 , Mainz, 1860, p. 94; (Digital scan)
↑ View before the renovation from 1979
^ Resolution of the city council of February 4, 2014 minutes of the meeting on February 4, 2014

[1] Publications of the Palatinate Society for the Promotion of Science in Speyer am Rhein , Volume 56, 1967, p. 18; (Detail scan)

[2] Annual report of the Historical Association for Middle Franconia , Volume 9, Nuremberg, 1839, p. 85; (Digital scan)

[3] Website on the Grünstadt Jewish Cemetery

[4] Website of the Jewish community of the Rhine Palatinate, with its own section on the Grünstadt synagogue

[5] Biographical website on Jacob Frankel

[6] Arnold Vogt: Religion in the military , 1984, p. 719, ISBN 3820451854 ; (Detail scan of the activity as a cantor at the Synagogue Grünstadt)

[7] Supplement to the Frankfurter Journal , No. 78, from March 19, 1859; (Digital scan)

[8] K. Klein: People's calendar and yearbook for Israelites for the year 5620 , Mainz, 1860, p. 94; (Digital scan)

[9] View before the renovation from 1979

[10] Resolution of the city council of February 4, 2014 minutes of the meeting on February 4, 2014