Synagogue (Leutershausen an der Bergstrasse)

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Former synagogue in Leutershausen

The former synagogue in the main road 27 in Leutershausen , a district of the municipality Hirschberg on the mountain road in the Rhein-Neckar district in northern Baden-Württemberg , was built 1867-68 and restored from the 2000th The former synagogue has been a listed building since 1972 .

history

The first known synagogue in Leutershausen existed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Century in the Hauptstrasse 1. The prayer room was in the attic of a half-timbered house that still exists today .

The new synagogue was built at Schriesheimer Tor in 1867/68 according to plans by Philipp Schmitt from Mannheim ; the inauguration took place on September 4, 1868.

On May 4, 1938, the political community bought the synagogue, so it was not destroyed during the November pogrom in 1938 . From 1942 the building was used as a prisoner of war camp and hospital and after 1945 as a canning factory, warehouse and printing shop . In 1955, private individuals bought the building, and in 1985 the Hirschberg community acquired it.

On November 9, 1988, a memorial plaque was installed with the following inscription: We commemorate our Jewish fellow citizens who fell victim to the Nazi reign of terror between 1933 and 1945. Your suffering should be a reminder and an obligation for us.

After extensive renovation work, the former synagogue was reopened on November 10, 2001 as a house of culture and encounter .

In 2002 the Scottish glass artist John K. Clark designed two rose windows for the west and east facade.

The square north of the synagogue was redesigned in 2010 after an empty residential building was demolished.

In 2014, a bronze memorial designed by the Mannheim artist Myriam Holme was inaugurated on this square with a name plaque on the synagogue wall. It commemorates the 27 Jewish deaths from Leutershausen and Greater Saxony, including the Jewish cantor and teacher Meier Heller. The square was named after him on the occasion of the inauguration.

Jewish community

The first evidence of Jewish life in Leutershausen goes back to 1553. At the time the synagogue was built, 165 Jews lived there. At the beginning of the 20th century, the emerging industry led to emigration, so that the number of Jewish residents fell to 68. At the beginning of the National Socialist rule, almost 50 Jewish people were counted. In 1940, when Jews from Baden were deported to Camp de Gurs in southern France, no more Jews lived in Leutershausen. They tried to hide in the anonymity of the cities or emigrated. 21 Jews from Leutershausen and six from Großsachsen were murdered in the Nazi extermination camps.

literature

  • Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger: Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 , pp. 201–203 ( memorial book of synagogues in Germany . Volume 4).

Web links

Commons : Synagogue  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Zeeh: From the house of worship to the canning factory. In: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung . January 2, 2018, accessed July 12, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Erhard Schnurr: The Jews from Leutershausen and Greater Saxony in the National Socialist Persecution , Verlag Markus Bissinger, Zwingenberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-937645-04-9

Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 53.4 "  N , 8 ° 39 ′ 44.4"  E