Rykestrasse Synagogue
| Rykestrasse Synagogue | |
|---|---|
| Construction year: | 1903/1904 |
| Location: | 52 ° 32 '7.3 " N , 13 ° 25' 6.9" E |
| Address: | Rykestr. 53 10405 Berlin Berlin , Germany |
| Purpose: | Liberal Judaism / Conservative Synagogue |
| Local community: | Jewish community in Berlin |
| Website: | www.jg-berlin.org/judentum/synagogen/rykestrasse.html |
The synagogue Rykestraße located in the Rykestraße 53 in Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg ( Pankow ) in the so-called Kollwitz neighborhood . Since its re-inauguration in 1953, it has been the largest synagogue in Germany with the prayer room that seats 2000 (1200 after the renovation) .
history
Planning and beginnings
Although there was no Jewish settlement center directly on Rykestrasse, the synagogue means that the street represents the former flourishing life in the Berlin community . The Jewish community in Berlin built a synagogue there, as the influx of mainly Eastern European Jews to the north-east of Berlin made another church necessary next to the New Synagogue . At the synagogue, the funeral procession began, which at funerals led via the Judengang from Kollwitzplatz to the Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee .
The building of the synagogue was built in 1903/04 in the neo-Romanesque style according to plans by the architect Johann Hoeniger . This was preceded by a complex approval process. The inauguration took place after ten months of construction on September 4, 1904, just in time for the high holidays of 5665. In view of the differences in the Jewish community, the installation of an organ was dispensed with, but a future location was planned for the construction. In the year of the inauguration, the VI. Religious school of the Jewish community set up with up to 500 students. In 1926 the Jewish School Association opened the III. Private primary school of the Jewish community in the building, after an elementary school had been there since 1922.
Prenzlauer Berg was regarded as the center of Jewish life until the beginning of the National Socialist terror regime.
time of the nationalsocialism
Although Jewish life publicly came to a standstill as a result of the Nazi regime, the need for Jewish events grew, and the Rykestrasse synagogue kept this in mind for as long as possible. The primary school was also expanded for this purpose. Traditionalization began in 1934 when a new liturgy was introduced for Friday evening - two years later also for Saturday morning.
The synagogue stood in the courtyard of the property, which was narrow towards the street, in a typical inner-city residential area in Berlin, which prevented complete destruction during the pogrom night of 1938 . Neighboring properties should not be endangered by destruction. However, the interior of the synagogue was desecrated and rabbis and community members were deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp .
After the last service took place in April 1940, the synagogue was misused as a depot and horse stable from May 1940 after it was confiscated by the army site administration. The III. The primary school in the front building was confiscated for the German field post after the summer vacation in 1941 and was forcibly closed. The remaining students could still be taught in various alternative quarters of the Jewish community until all Jewish schools were forced to close on June 30, 1942.
After the liberation of Germany from the Nazi regime by the Allies , Jews from Eastern Europe ( displaced persons ) who had survived the regime were temporarily housed in the front building of the synagogue . On July 29, 1945, Rabbi Martin Riesenburger married the first couple after the Holocaust .
Time of the GDR
As the only surviving synagogue in East Berlin , it was consecrated again on August 30, 1953 by Riesenburger after extensive renovations. After the Berlin Wall was built , it served as a synagogue for the East Berlin Jewish community and became the center of GDR Jewry. In 1961 the congregation still had 3,000 members. Riesenburger died in 1966. Since then one has been dependent on external rabbis. Oljean Ingster has been cantor of the community since 1966 . By 1990 the church had only about 200 members.
In addition to a renovation in 1953, there was another in 1957. Due to major storm damage, further renovations were necessary between 1967 and 1978.
After reunification
Since the autumn of 1999, the former primary school has been home to the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation , whose task it is to promote Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe.
Windows and doors were renovated between 2000 and 2003.
The 100th anniversary on September 12, 2004, to which the chairman of the Jewish Community of Berlin, Albert Meyer, invited, turned out to be a remarkable event in which Federal President Horst Koehler , Israeli Ambassador Shimon Stein and Berlin's Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit also took part.
In 2004, the Moses Mendelssohn Prize was to be presented in the synagogue . However, since the award winner Hilde Schramm , founder of the “Return” foundation, which supports Jewish artists and scholars living in Germany, is the daughter of Albert Speer , this was rejected.
Ruth Golan and Kay Zareh were the architects for around three years of renovation work until 2007 . Much emphasis was placed on getting closer to the original condition of 1904. Difficulties arose here, as the original condition could hardly be recognized. In the early 1990s, for example, the inside of the building was still brown and white, iron chandeliers had meanwhile been painted gold. The Berlin Senate funded the renovation of the exterior with 2.3 million euros, while the interior restoration received a further 3.1 million euros from lottery funds.
On August 31, 2007, the synagogue was reopened at the same time as the Jewish Culture Days began. Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble and Charlotte Knobloch , President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , attended the opening . The communist resistance fighter against the Nazi regime Günter Nobel , member of the board of the Jewish Cultural Association Berlin , died during the opening ceremony at the age of 95.
The vast majority of those who pray today come from the area of the former Soviet Union . The Rykestrasse Synagogue is considered liberal - conservative .
Church life
The community currently serves as a rabbi:
Web links
- Rykestrasse Synagogue, website of the Berlin Jewish Community
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
- Rykestrasse Synagogue: Germany's largest synagogue is 100 years old
- Photos of the synagogue
- Brief information and old view of the synagogue
literature
- Hermann Simon : The Synagogue Rykestrasse 1904-2004. Hentrich and Hentrich, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-938485-65-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ See on this: Willi Holzer: Jüdische Schule in Berlin. Using the example of the private primary school of the Jewish community Rykestrasse , Berlin, Edition Hentrich 1992.
- ↑ a b http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Synagogen;art270,2356886
- ↑ Jörg Lau: Judaism: Why this fear? In: The time . No. 29/2004 ( online ).
- ↑ a b http://www.rbb-online.de/_/nachrichten/politik/beitrag_jsp/key=news6352744.html
- ↑ http://www.jg-berlin.org/judentum/rabbiner/rab-b-ronis.html