Großkrotzenburg synagogue

View of the synagogue from the west

Interior view of the synagogue in 1925

The Großkrotzenburg synagogue was the synagogue of the Jewish community of Großkrotzenburg from 1826 until the November pogrom in 1938 .

local community

There were residents of the Jewish faith in Großkrotzenburg at least since the 17th century. At that time it belonged to the Electorate of Mainz . The community's cemetery had existed since around 1700. Due to the political reorganization in Napoleonic times, Großkrotzenburg finally came under the electorate of Hesse . At that time, the Jewish services were held in a room that the congregation had rented from one of its members. Plans to erect an independent synagogue building had probably been in existence for some time when the landlord intended to use the worship room again in 1820. So the first building application was made . The community already owned a piece of land for this (today: Steingasse 10-12). While the administration of the locally responsible office of Büchertal supported the project, it was initially blocked by the central government of the electoral state and only approved in a second attempt in 1824.

The community, which had grown to around 150 members by the 1930s, increasingly dissolved under the pressure of the National Socialist policy of discrimination, initially through emigration to the big cities or abroad. In 1939 it still consisted of 24 people. In 1940 the last former citizen of Großkrotzenburg classified as "Jewish" by the Nuremberg Laws was forcibly resettled.

synagogue

In July 1826, the synagogue and a (first) mikveh were inaugurated. The long sides of the rectangular building now have six window axes, originally there were four. The windows are arched windows . The entrance is from the west, but has been redesigned in a modern way. Originally there were at least two separate entrances for women and men.

The interior design of the synagogue was very simple. Only a chandelier and the Torah shrine were more elaborately decorated. The east side, where the Torah shrine was located, was windowless.

Two extensions are evidence of a growing community: in 1864 the women's gallery had to be extended, in 1900 the entire building had to be extended by two window axes to the east.

In 1926 - for the 100th anniversary of the synagogue - a festival lasting several days was held, in which the Christian residents of Großkrotzenburg also took part. On the afternoon of November 10, 1938, around 100 people gathered in front of the synagogue, forced their way into the building, smashed the furnishings and burned the Torah scrolls in the courtyard. A teacher from the local elementary school stood out, wearing an SA uniform who called for acts of violence and urinated from the women's gallery into the church service room. Since the building was close to the surrounding buildings, it was not set on fire. In the evening, the population stocked up on the remains of the synagogue's shattered interior to replenish their supplies of firewood.

In 1939 the community had to sell the synagogue. The property and the building were taken over by a farmer whose brother ran a knitwear factory in the building of the former synagogue until 1948. In a legal dispute after the Second World War between the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization , as the legal successor to the Jewish Community of Großkrotzenburg, and the new owner of the property, a settlement was reached in which the new owner took ownership of the property against payment of a sum of money from the organization got overwritten. In 1952 the Evangelical Church bought the building and set up a chapel for the Evangelical Christians in Großkrotzenburg, who were in a diaspora situation here . This use ended in 1974 when a new community center was opened. In 1977 the political community leased the former synagogue, initially left it to an aquarium association and acquired it in 1986. Under the direction of the architect Thea Altaras , the building was converted into a meeting and cultural center. This also includes a plaque with the names of those murdered in the Holocaust and a memorial on the forecourt.

Outbuildings

A separate school building with a teacher's apartment, a half-timbered house , was built next to the synagogue. It also contained the mikveh. The first mikveh could not be heated and had further technical problems. This led to the construction of a new mikveh, which could now also be heated. It could be used from 1856 and was supplied with water from the groundwater . The former school building is now a residential building.

literature

• Thea Altaras : Synagogues and Jewish ritual immersion baths in Hesse - What happened since 1945? , 2nd updated, combined u. extended edition, from d. Estate ed. v. Gabriele Klempert u. Hans-Curt Koester. Langewiesche, Königstein i. Ts. 2007 (= The Blue Books ), ISBN 978-3-7845-7794-4 , p. 331f.
• Working group "Former Synagogue Großkrotzenburg" (Ed.): "Let your soul be integrated into the bundle of life" - The Jewish community and the Jewish cemetery in Großkrotzenburg. Hanau 2002.
• Josef Beberich: Festschrift for the centenary of the synagogue building. 1926.
• Willi Euler: Review of the Jewish community of Großkrotzenburg. Großkrotzenburg 1983.
• Monika Pfeifer: The memorial and meeting place “Former Synagogues Großkrotzenburg”. In: Monika Hölscher (ed.): The former country synagogues in Großkrotzenburg and Klein-Krotzenburg = Hessian history 1933-1945. Issue 1. Wiesbaden 2012, pp. 8–11. ( Download pdf )
• Monika Pfeifer: The Jewish community in Großkrotzenburg. In: Monika Hölscher (Ed.): The former country synagogues in Großkrotzenburg and Klein-Krotzenburg = Hessian stories 1933-1945. Issue 1. Wiesbaden 2012, pp. 2–6. ( Download pdf )

Web links

• Großkrotzenburg synagogue near Alemannia Judaica

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 2.
2. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 6.
3. ↑ Altaras, p. 331.
4. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 4f.
5. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 5.
6. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 5.
7. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 5.
8. ↑ Pfeifer: Memorial and meeting place. P. 8.
9. ↑ Pfeifer: Memorial and meeting place. P. 8.
10. ↑ Pfeifer: Memorial and meeting place. P. 10.
11. ↑ Pfeifer: The Jewish Community. P. 4.

Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 46.9 ″  N , 8 ° 58 ′ 54.4 ″  E