Rödelheim synagogue

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Memorial since 2015
Memorial stele by Christof Krause
Torah stone at the former location of the Torah shrine

The Rödelheim synagogue was the Jewish place of worship in Frankfurt-Rödelheim from 1730 until it was destroyed in 1938.

History of the community

The oldest surviving mention of Jews comes from a privilege granted by King Rudolf I in 1290. The burgrave of Rödelheim was allowed to settle six Jews who were trading next to the castle. In the years that followed, Jewish residents were only mentioned occasionally: in 1455/56 a Jew owned a riding court , at the beginning of the 16th century at least one Jewish family lived in Rödelheim. A community is only proven from the end of the 17th century. The funeral society Chewra Kadisha was founded in 1700. The oldest surviving letter of protection dates from 1728. The residential area of ​​the Jews was Inselgäßchen, also known as "Judengasse".

A prominent member of the community was Wolf Heidenheim , who ran the privileged oriental and occidental printing press in Rödelheim from 1796 . A few conversions to Christianity are known from the 18th and 19th centuries , including Ludwig Börne on June 5, 1818.

The Jewish population developed as follows:

  • 1701: 40-45 people
  • 1749: 140-150 people
  • 1800: 236 people
  • 1803: 58 families
  • 1812: 426 people (29.2% of 1457 inhabitants)
  • 1814: 342 people (28.1% of 1,217 inhabitants)
  • 1830: 380 people (23.9% of 1,588 inhabitants)
  • 1845: 421 people (18.5% of 2,272 inhabitants)
  • 1866: 376 people (13.7% of 2,736 inhabitants)
  • 1871: 255 people (8.2% of 3,109 inhabitants)
  • 1885: 192 people (4.5% of 4,264 inhabitants)
  • 1895: 154 people (3.1% of 4,888 inhabitants)
  • 1905: 163 people (3.1% of 5,310 inhabitants)
  • 1924: 113 people (0.9% of 12,891 inhabitants (1927))
New Jewish cemetery Frankfurt-Rödelheim

The community maintained a synagogue , a mikveh , a cemetery and a teacher who was both a prayer leader and a shochet . In the second half of the 19th century, the Jewish denominational school was closed.

At Jewish associations there was the funeral society "Chewra Kadischa", a "sickness benefit fund of the Israelite youth association", an "Israelite women association", a "sociability association", the "Israelite male choir Concordia" and a foundation to support the poor who also have a small hospital business.

Downfall

In 1933 about 100 people who belonged to the Jewish community lived in Rödelheim. By 1938 all Jewish businesses had to be given up or were forcibly transferred into “Aryan” possession. Some of the Jewish community members were still able to emigrate, the rest were deported and a number of them were murdered.

Synagogue building

history

In 1680, the sovereign rulers, Count von Solms-Rödelheim , made a prayer room available to the Jewish community within the stately cattle yard, which was withdrawn as early as 1700 because a Christian was illegally brought in for auxiliary services on the Sabbath . From then on, the members of the community had to move to the synagogue in neighboring Bockenheim , which at the time belonged to the County of Hanau , for worship . In 1730 a synagogue was built in Judengasse and in 1837/38 it was replaced by a new building for 20,000 guilders at the same location (Judengasse 9). The 50th anniversary of the event (June 17, 1888) was close to the anniversary of the death of Emperor Friedrich III. (June 15, 1888), so that all celebrations except the worship service were canceled. “The ritual prayer for the sovereign, which is usually said on Saturday morning, was planned for Friday evening at this special celebration and was now given by Rabbi Dr. Read Kotek for Kaiser Wilhelm II. ” On January 26, 1902, the synagogue received a new Torah scroll after the previous one had to be given up after 90 years of use.

destruction

During the November pogrom of 1938, the synagogue was set on fire by SA men on the morning of November 10, 1938 . There was a tank farm in the neighborhood, so the fire was quickly extinguished. On November 3, 1939, the Jewish community had to sell the building. It was transferred to the neighboring garage and now served as a storage room. The building was badly damaged in the air raid on Frankfurt am Main on March 22, 1944 . The former synagogue building was poorly repaired after 1945 for the garage, but was later demolished.

Commemoration

On November 8, 1979, a memorial stone was erected at the site of the former synagogue on the initiative of the local parishes and the SPD . It was designed by the sculptor Christof Krause : A stele with a group of figures at the top depicting people crammed together, degraded and torn from their lives, and inscriptions on three sides of the shaft. The memorial was subsequently the target of graffiti on several occasions.

From 2006 a number of stumbling blocks were laid in Rödelheim . Since 2009 the Rödelheim Home and History Association has been planning to make the synagogue visible again. The floor plan of the synagogue at its former location was reproduced with a paving and a memorial was built on it. A name stele names the known Jews who were murdered or driven to their death by the National Socialists. Half of the stele stands inside and half outside the synagogue area. This is to indicate that the people were murdered because of the National Socialist classification of the "Jewish race", regardless of their belief. The thoracic stone on the east wall of the former synagogue is a reminder of the location of the torah shrine. The memorial was inaugurated on November 6, 2015. Rabbi Julien Chaim Soussan said the prayer in memory of the victims of the Holocaust .

See also

literature

  • Paul Schubert: Alt-Rödelheim in words and pictures. A home book . Frankfurt 1921.
  • S. Lilienthal: From Frankfurt through the Wetterau and the Lahn valley . In: community sheet of the Israelite community in Frankfurt. August 1936.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The inscription reads: We allowed that Jewish citizens from our midst were deported to concentration camps and murdered. The synagogue of the Jewish community of Rödelheim, consecrated on June 29, 1838, was destroyed on 9/10. November 1938 (pages); Front ( Hebrew ) The synagogue of the Jewish community of Rödelheim stood at this point . / Bring us back to you, Lord, that we may come home again. Renew our days as of old .
  2. ↑ In the work of Thea Altaras : Synagogues and Jewish ritual immersion baths in Hesse - What happened since 1945? . 2. updated, combined & extended edition, from d. Estate ed. v. Gabriele Klempert u. Hans-Curt Koester. Koenigstein i. Ts. 2007. ISBN 978-3-7845-7794-4 , the Rödelheim synagogue is not described as a total structural loss.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rödelheim . In: Alemannia Judaica; Schubert.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Rödelheim . In: Alemannia Judaica .
  3. ↑ Information, unless otherwise stated, from: Rödelheim . In: Alemannia Judaica .
  4. ↑ Lilienthal.
  5. ^ Report in the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums from July 19, 1838.
  6. ↑ Lilienthal.
  7. ↑ Reports on the opening: Report in the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums of July 19, 1838: [...] "Thousands of Christians joined the celebration"; Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums: The inauguration of the synagogue in Rödelheim on August 11, 1838.
  8. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt . 28 June 1888.
  9. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt. 28 June 1888.
  10. ↑ The Israelite. 30 January 1902.

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 23.6 ″  N , 8 ° 36 ′ 50.5 ″  E