Saarbrücken synagogue

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Main facade of the synagogue on Lortzingstrasse

The Saarbrücken synagogue is the Jewish place of worship of the Saar synagogue community in Saarbrücken . It is a listed building .

history

Construction of the first synagogue

Saarbrücken-St. Johann, elevation of the side facade of the synagogue in St. Johann ad Saar, 1888, building administration archive of the state capital Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken-St. Johann, longitudinal section of the synagogue in St. Johann ad Saar, 1888, building administration archive of the state capital Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken-St. Johann, site plan of the old synagogue, 1888, building administration archive of the state capital Saarbrücken

During the 50 years before Hitler's so-called seizure of power in 1933, the synagogue community in St. Johann and Saarbrücken had developed from humble beginnings into an institution to which more than half of all Saarland Jews belonged with over 2,000 members at the end of the 1920s. The outward sign of the position achieved was the synagogue of the Saarbrücken Jews on the corner of Futterstrasse 25 and Kaiserstrasse in St. Johann, built between 1888 and 1890 according to plans by the Saarbrücken architect Friedrich Mertz in the Moorish style .

Architecture of the first synagogue

The architectural design of the St. Johann sacred building followed the tradition of orientalizing synagogue buildings, such as the New Synagogue in Berlin's Oranienstrasse by architects Eduard Knoblauch and Friedrich August Stüler, which was inaugurated in 1866 . The Moorish style was increasingly used in historicist synagogue construction in the second half of the 19th century. The architect and Semper student Otto Simonson justified this choice of style as follows:

“The Moorish style strikes me as the most characteristic. - Judaism clings to its history with unshakable piety: its laws, manners and customs, the organization of the cult, in short its whole being lives in reminiscences of the mother country, the Orient. The architect has to take them into account if he wants to put a typical stamp on the building, and he has enough freedom if he only knows how to skillfully choose the right from the flowers of the Orient. "

Architect Friedrich Mertz submitted the draft plans for the new synagogue in Saarbrücken-St. Johann, on January 26, 1888 for approval. In 1889 the foundation stone was laid on the property at Futterstraße 25 at the corner of Kaiserstraße 12. The synagogue was inaugurated on December 22nd, 1890. The architect Friedrich Mertz was responsible for the design and execution of the synagogue in collaboration with the architect Heinrich Güth . The carpentry work was done by P. Petsch from Saarbrücken, and the roofing work by Ludwig Güth. The glass paintings for the windows were made by E. Wagner, the decorative painting was done by Julius Nieseh.

The construction of the synagogue was part of the Wilhelminian expansion of Saarbrücken-St. Johann along Kaiserstraße, the site of which was not developed for urban development until the 1890s. The two-storey synagogue was built as a centralized dome building on a cross-shaped floor plan (23.30 m long and 15.70 m wide) with a longitudinal axis orientation along Kaiserstraße. The entrance front with the main façade and the two slightly receding polygonal staircases was located on Futterstraße. The brick-built corner building in Byzantine-Moorish shapes was adorned with horizontal layers of paint from light-colored wall strips and narrower red brick bands.

The Great Synagogue of Florence, designed in the years 1874–1882 for the Jewish community in Florence by the architects Mariano Falcini, Vincente Micheli and Marco Treves, can be used as a famous model for the central structure of the St. Johann Synagogue and the special color of the facade . The windows of the transept arms of the St. Johann synagogue were designed by architect Mertz in a “Moorish” horseshoe arch shape, which were combined as triplet windows in the central projection on both floors. The parapet panels under the horseshoe arched windows were made of light sandstone. The central architectural element of the main facade was a columnar aedicula portal . Above it opened a shallow niche with a large wheeled window. The cross arms and the risalit gables were combined by a strong console frieze under the profiled eaves cornice. The corners of the cross arms were emphasized by polygonal fial-like attachments in the roof region. The gable of the main facade was surmounted by the stone tablets of the Decalogue.

The center of the building was a square crossing supported by four cast iron columns. The octagonal drum with windows rested on trumpets , which in turn were subdivided into many small horseshoe arch niches in a “Moorish” manner. Above it rose the wooden dome construction, the top of which with a crowning Star of David reached a height of 31 m. The four cross arms were barrel vaulted. The north arm of the cross served as an entrance, which was entered via an outside staircase lined with wrought iron bars. From there, the main room of the synagogue with space for 166 men could be reached at ground level. Doors on the side led to the staircases of the women's and singer galleries in the western and eastern arms of the cross, which held a total of 114 people. The transept windows were covered by round arches. The sandstone niche with the richly decorated Torah shrine, which was framed by a horseshoe arch, was located in a kind of flat choir on the south side. The choir itself closed in the style of the crossing structure with a half flat dome on a drum-like substructure on trumpets. The walls of the synagogue interior were covered with colored decorative painting from late historicism. The windows also had colored glazing.

In 1905 an emergency staircase was built as an outdoor facility according to plans by the architects Heinecker and Witzesker, Saarbrücken-St. Johann, cultivated. The sacred building was renovated in 1916.

Destruction of the first synagogue

The violent events of the so-called Reichskristallnacht in Saarbrücken were mainly the work of the local SS units of Standard 85. The order for violent attacks on the Jewish community came at short notice on the evening of November 9, 1938. Those from their leaders to carry out the action selected men had to put on civilian clothes and were then divided into four teams. One of them was intended for use at the synagogue in St. Johann, the other three troops were supposed to hunt down Jewish residents. These were then torn from their beds, mistreated and threatened with death. Your home furnishings were devastated. Around 130–150 Jewish men were driven through the city center at night, some in light clothing and some in their sleepwear, spat at, insulted and sprayed with water from the city's explosive device. In a symbolic action, the men were asked to dig their own grave at the construction site of the neoclassical railway management at Saarbrücken main station . From Schlossplatz , where the Saarbrücken Gestapo authority was located, the train finally went to the prison on the Lerchesflur .

There, swastikas were smeared on the faces of the men with paint and the seal stamp of the Jewish Community of Saarbrücken was pressed on their faces. Most of the men in the Jewish community were then sent to the concentration camp in Dachau for several weeks .

On the night of the anti-Jewish attacks, a group of around 30 SS men broke into the synagogue, ravaged the interior, tore up the prayer books and desecrated the cult objects. The captured Jewish men were also led past the synagogue on their humiliating procession through Saarbrücken. There they were forced to dance, gesticulating, kneeling down in prayer and singing Hebrew songs. Then the sacred building was set on fire. The fire brigade summoned only protected the neighboring houses threatened by the flames and allowed the synagogue to burn down. The Saarbrücker Zeitung commented on the arson of the synagogue on November 11, 1938:

“With his cowardly murder on the German delegation councilor vom Rath, a Jewish kid set the whole German public in boiling excitement and yesterday morning this heat seemed to have spread to the synagogue in Kaiserstrasse. In any case, yesterday morning at around 8 o'clock in the morning the flames struck from the onion dome, which and the building underneath had never fit into our cityscape. Soon a large crowd had gathered in Kaiser- und Futterstrasse, and they were watching the further course of events with great tension. No one could hide the satisfaction that the house, in which the Jewish clique had still been able to gather undisturbed, was now disappearing. Wasn't it like a symbol when the Jewish star, which had still boldly stared at the German sky on the highest point, suddenly fell burning through the crackling and sparkling beams! Isn't it crackling in the framework of international Judaism, whose star is also sinking, even if one doesn't want it to be true in some places. The crowd in the streets gave way and did not sway. One wanted to experience how the dome collapsed, one wanted to be there when this outward sign of alien ethnicity and alien mentality was erased from the German cityscape.

The fact that a search was being carried out in the Jewish house next to the synagogue and that all kinds of more or less valuable material were brought out served for general amusement and was duly applauded. So the old proverb has come true with us too; 'Whoever sows the wind will reap the storm.' "

The new synagogue is built

After the Jewish sacred building fell victim to the National Socialist fire in 1938 and was demolished in 1939, efforts were made by the Saarland state government under Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann and the French occupying power under Gilbert Grandval , the representative of the French government of Jewish origin , who passed on June 2, 1946 40 surviving Jews in the Saarbrücken town hall festival hall to provide a new synagogue to the newly established Saar synagogue community.

Assemblies and services were held in Saarbrücken, which was badly damaged by the war, in the immediate post-war period on working days in a room in the State Museum (now the City Gallery) and on public holidays in the Red Hall of the Johannishof in Mainzer Straße. In August 1947, the Saarbrücken architect Heinrich Sievers (1903–1969) presented a first draft for a new synagogue. This draft was approved by the Jewish community, the Saarland state government and the French occupying power, but was initially rejected by the city's expert committee for new buildings. Construction work could only begin in September 1948 after extensive corrections to the design. From 1948 to 1951, a new synagogue with 248 seats was built on Beethovenplatz in Lortzingstrasse according to plans by Heinrich Sievers. On January 14, 1951, the ceremonial inauguration of the Saarbrücken sacred building took place in the presence of Gilbert Grandval. The Saarbrücken synagogue is the earliest post-war synagogue in what is now Germany.

Architecture of the new synagogue

Exterior

Saarbrücken synagogue, round window with Star of David on the facade with Hebrew portal inscription from Ps 113.2  EU : "The name of the Lord be praised from now on and forever."

The synagogue fits into the southwest wall of the Beethovenplatz and uses the existing alignment of the neighboring buildings to compose the facade. The actual synagogue space shows itself as a strong, block-like structure about 10 m high and 30 m long. It follows the front alignment line and occurs - in relation to the neighboring building on the left - about 4.50 m in front of its building line. The two floors above, which accommodate the community center and apartments, are in the rear building line and step back like a high mezzanine floor. The block, which is staggered in depth, consists primarily of a flat roof structure on the front side. In addition to seven tall, narrow stained glass windows (relating to the holiest number in Judaism), the otherwise inconspicuous front is dominated by a round window above the framed portal. The portal inscription, carved in Hebrew letters (יְהִ֤י שֵׁ֣ם יְהוָ֣ה מְבֹרָ֑ךְ מֵֽ֝עַתָּ֗ה וְעַד־עֹולָֽם׃) comes from the 113th Psalm and is translated into German: "The name of the Lord be praised from now on and forever."

The main facade of the church is clad with light, square limestone slabs. The smooth facade is divided horizontally by three narrow strips of artificial stone, which differ only slightly in color from the limestone. The artificial stone is also used to accentuate the main entrance, the overlying round window with the colored glazed Star of David and the seven similarly designed, high rectangular and also colored glazed windows. The group of windows is also combined by a common sill. This is supported by two brackets per window. Above the group of windows there is another simple decorative cornice.

On the narrow facade created by the recession of the building line, there is a high window above an entrance door, which is designed similar to the main facade. A surrounding cornice, which also serves as a parapet for a roof terrace, completes the entire projecting component. The floors above are designed as unadorned perforated facades, which end with a row of brackets to the eaves of the gable roof.

Interior

Saarbrücken synagogue, Torah shrine with tablets of the law and lectern ( Bima ) flanked by menorah candlesticks, above which the Eternal Light ( Ner Tamid ) hangs as an indication of the presence of God
Synagogue Saarbrücken, Parochet : embroidered red shrine parament with lions ( heraldic animal of the tribe of Judah ) striding on the temple columns Jachin and Boas, holding the Decalogue tablets crowned with the crown of the Torah (Keter Tora)

In the brightly designed interior, the synagogue is structured as a three-aisled gallery with a dominant central nave with a coffered ceiling whose transverse ribs are particularly emphasized. The side aisles have little effect on the spatial impression. The visitors take a seat on dark wooden box benches. The stalls can accommodate 248 people. The Torah shrine with the lectern, the bima, is located in the east wall niche made of gray, highly polished marble, which is raised by a few steps . To the left and right of it jumps in a marble-clad wall, the openings of which accommodate the organ prospectuses. The east-facing of the room (in the direction of the no longer existing Jerusalem temple ) is emphasized by the use of dark gray marble, which in terms of material and color clearly stands out from the design of the other room elements. The design of the marble-clad east wall of the Saarbrücken synagogue with the Torah shrine crowned with decalog shows certain architectural parallels to the west wall of the marble-clad large "mosaic hall" of the former New Reich Chancellery built by Albert Speer in its transition to the "round hall". Here, too, dark marble pillars narrowed the lengthways room and gave a view of a profile-framed portal structure raised by stairs, which was crowned by the imperial eagle .

The side walls of the Saarbrücken synagogue are divided by two superimposed pillar arcades: on the ground floor, narrow pillars separate the unexposed aisles from the central nave. On the upper floor, the pillars have wide openings that provide indirect lighting for the synagogue. Typical lamps with fluorescent tubes are attached to the pillars. The wall surfaces are brightly plastered.

The sacred building by Saarbrücken architect Heinrich Sievers (1903–1969) is based on pre-war architectural trends. The interior of the synagogue shows structural similarities with the monumental state buildings and representative rooms of the Third Reich in its massive design . In contrast are the symbols of Judaism grouped around the Torah shrine. This contrast between echoes of the architecture of magnificent National Socialist buildings and the function of a Jewish house of worship is increased by the formation of the Torah shrine . The entire construction around the Holy Ark seems to have been discontinued and does not belong directly to the synagogue community room. Both exterior and interior design take up forms of neoclassical Nazi architecture , such as those used in the Reich Aviation Ministry (today Federal Ministry of Finance ; Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus ) built in 1935/1936 by architect Ernst Sagebiel in Berlin . The Saarbrücken synagogue is the only example of a clear interweaving of the Jewish sacred building with formal elements of the architecture of National Socialism.

About the interior of the Saarbrücken post-war synagogue has also parallels to that in the years 1951-1953 by Rudolf Esterer in the reconstruction of the Second World War destroyed the Munich Residence on the site of the throne room King Ludwig I newly built Hercules Hall , and is thus a visible sign of the Continuity of architectural forms of the 1930s and early 1940s in the post-war period.

organ

The synagogue organ was built by the organ construction company Edmond Alexandre Roethinger from Schiltigheim in 1950. It has 19 (22) registers. Game and stop action are electro-pneumatic.

The arrangement of the organ work is structured as follows:

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Quintaton 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Gemshorn 8th'
4th octave 4 ′
5. Reed flute 4 ′
6th Duplicate 2 ′
7th Mixture IV-V
8th. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
9. Flute 8th'
10. Salicional 8th'
11. Vox coelestis (from c 0 ) 8th'
12. Principal 4 ′
13. Night horn 4 ′
14th Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
15th Doublette (Ext. No. 12) 2 ′
16. Zimbel IV
17th Krummhorn 8th'
Pedals C – f 1
18th Sub-bass 16 ′
19th Capstan flute 8th'
20th Basse (Ext. No. 18) 8th'
21st Basse (Ext. No. 18) 4 ′
22nd trombone 16 ′
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.
  • Playing aids: 2 free combinations, tongues down, mixtures down, tutti, crescendo kick

Web links

Commons : Saarbrücken Synagogue  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Stefan Fischbach and Ingrid Westerhoff: "and this is the gate of heaven", 1st Mos. 28.17, Synagogues Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland, editors Joachim Glatz and Meier Schwarz, ed. from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Rhineland-Palatinate with the State Conservatory Office of the Saarland and the Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem, Mainz 2005.
  • Hans-Walter Herrmann : Saarbrücken under Nazi rule, in: Wittenbrock, Rolf (ed.), Geschichte der Stadt Saarbrücken, Vol. 2, Saarbrücken 1999, pp. 243–339, here pp. 288–293.
  • Hans-Walter Herrmann: The fate of the Jews in Saarland 1920 to 1945, in: Documentation on the history of the Jewish population in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland from 1800 to 1945, ed. by the State Archives Administration Rhineland-Palatinate in connection with the State Archives Saarbrücken, Volume 6, Koblenz 1974.
  • Fritz Jacoby: Jewish families in the Saar cities in the first half of the 19th century, in: Saarländische Familienkunde, Vol. 5, 1984-1987, pp. 229-240.
  • Fritz Jacoby: Two statements on the emancipation of Jews from the Saar cities, The petition of the citizens of Saarbrücken, St. Johann and the surrounding area of ​​1843, in: Journal for the history of the Saar region, 33, 1985, pp. 122-147.
  • Walter Kasel: The Jewish community, in: Saarbrücken, 50 years of the city 1909-1959, Saarbrücken 1959, pp. 226–231.
  • Cilli Kasper-Holtkotte: Jews on the move, On the social history of a minority in the Saar-Mosel area around 1800, Hanover 1996.
  • Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz and Landesarchiv Saarbrücken (ed.), Documentation on the history of the Jewish population in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland from 1800 to 1945, 9 volumes, Koblenz 1972ff.
  • State capital Saarbrücken, Department for Education, Culture and Science and Institute for Current Art (Ed.): Competitions Art in Public Space, Saarland, 7, Rabbiner-Rülf-Platz Memorial, Saarbrücken with the sculpture group "The Interrupted Forest" by Ariel Auslender, Saarbrücken 2015.
  • Albert Marx: The history of the Jews on the Saar, From the Ancien Régime to the Second World War, Saarbrücken 1992.
  • Albert Marx: The Jewish community of Saarbrücken (1933–1945), in: Stadtverband Saarbrücken, Regionalhistorisches Museum (ed.), Ten instead of a thousand years, The time of National Socialism on the Saar (1933–1945), catalog for the exhibition of the Regional History Museum in Saarbrücker Schloß, Saarbrücken 1988, pp. 201-217.
  • Bastian Müller: Architecture of the post-war period in Saarland, preservation of monuments in Saarland Volume 4, State Monuments Office, Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Transport, Saarbrücken 2011.
  • Marion Müller-Knoblauch and Gernot Tybl: The November Pogrom 1938 in Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken 1988.
  • Hans-Peter Schwarz (ed.): The architecture of the synagogue, catalog for the exhibition from November 11, 1988 - February 12, 1989, Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart 1988.
  • Eva Tigmann: "What happened on November 9, 1938?", A documentation about the crimes against the Jewish population in Saarland in November 1938, Saarbrücken 1998, pp. 74–83.
  • Hans-Georg Treib: "Now the Jews are Schläh!", The "Reichskristallnacht" 1938, in: Klaus-Michael Mallmann , Gerhard Paul, Ralph Schock , Reinhard Klektiven (eds.): We were never right at home, voyages of discovery to the Saar area in 1815 –1955, Bonn 1987.
  • Rolf Wittenbrock: The three Saar cities in the time of the accelerated urban growth (1860-1908), in: Ders. (Ed.): History of the City of Saarbrücken, Vol. 2, Saarbrücken 1999, pp. 11–129, here pp. 112f.
  • Dieter Wolfanger: The fate of the Saarland Jews under Nazi rule, St. Ingbert 1992.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of monuments of the Saarland, Saarbrücken sub-monument list (PDF; 653 kB), p. 76
  2. ^ Albert Marx: The Jewish community Saarbrücken (1933-1945), in: Ten instead of a thousand years, The time of National Socialism on the Saar 1935-1945, catalog for the exhibition of the Regional History Museum in the Saarbrücken Castle, Saarbrücken 1988, pp. 201-217
  3. ↑ Otto Simonson: The new temple in Leipzig, Berlin 1858, p. 3.
  4. ↑ Harold Hammer-Schenk: The architecture of the synagogue from 1780-1933, in: Hans-Peter Schwarz (Ed.): The architecture of the synagogue, catalog for the exhibition from November 11, 1988-12. February 1989, Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 157−285, here p. 203
  5. ↑ Kristine Marschall: The old synagogue in Saarbrücken, Futterstraße 25 / corner Kaiserstraße, in: “and this is the gate of heaven” 1. Mos. 28.17, Synagogues Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland, edited by Stefan Fischbach and Ingrid Westerhoff, editors Joachim Glatz and Meier Schwarz, ed. from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate with the State Conservatory Office of the Saarland and the Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem, Mainz 2005, pp. 451–454.
  6. ^ Archives Yad Vashem, Jerusalem TR 10/361
  7. ^ Albert Marx: The Jewish Community Saarbrücken (1933-1945) . In: Ten instead of a thousand years, The time of National Socialism on the Saar 1935-1945 . Catalog for the exhibition of the Regional History Museum in Saarbrücken Castle, Saarbrücken 1988, pp. 201–217
  8. ↑ Article “The Saarbrücker Synagoge in Flames”, Saarbrücker Zeitung, November 11, 1938.
  9. ↑ Hans-Peter Schwarz (ed.): The architecture of the synagogue, catalog for the exhibition from November 11, 1988-12. February 1989, Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart 1988, p. 340.
  10. ↑ Bastian Müller: Architecture of the Post-War Period in Saarland Preservation of Monuments in Saarland Volume 4, Landesdenkmalamt, Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Transport, Saarbrücken, 2011, p. 150
  11. ↑ Axel Böcker: The new synagogue and the community center in Saarbrücken Lortzingstrasse 8, in: “and this is the gate of heaven” 1. Mos. 28.17, Synagogues Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland, edited by Stefan Fischbach and Ingrid Westerhoff, editors Joachim Glatz and Meier Schwarz, ed. from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate with the State Conservatory Office of the Saarland and the Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem, Mainz 2005, pp. 454–455.
  12. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on May 14, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.institut-aktuelle-kunst.de
  13. ↑ Axel Böcker: The new synagogue and the community center in Saarbrücken Lortzingstrasse 8, in: “and this is the gate of heaven” 1. Mos. 28.17, Synagogues Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland, edited by Stefan Fischbach and Ingrid Westerhoff, editors Joachim Glatz and Meier Schwarz, ed. from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate with the State Conservatory Office of the Saarland and the Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem, Mainz 2005, pp. 454–455.
  14. ↑ Dietmar Arnold: New Reich Chancellery and “Führerbunker”, Legends and Reality, with the assistance of Reiner Janick, Augsburg 2009, pp. 93–94.
  15. ↑ Axel Böcker: The new synagogue and the community center in Saarbrücken Lortzingstrasse 8, in: “and this is the gate of heaven” 1. Mos. 28.17, Synagogues Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland, edited by Stefan Fischbach and Ingrid Westerhoff, editors Joachim Glatz and Meier Schwarz, ed. from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate with the State Conservatory Office of the Saarland and the Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem, Mainz 2005, pp. 454–455.
  16. ^ Salomon Korn: Synagogue architecture in Germany after 1945 . In: Hans-Peter Schwarz (ed.): The architecture of the synagogue . Catalog for the exhibition from November 11, 1988-12. February 1989, Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 287−395, here pp. 294, 340
  17. ↑ http://www.organindex.de/index.php?title=Saarbr%C3%BCcken,_Synagoge , accessed on May 17, 2015.

Coordinates: 49 ° 14 ′ 12.8 "  N , 6 ° 59 ′ 46.4"  E