Siegen synagogue

Large photo of the Siegen synagogue, attached to the facade of the air raid shelter built in its place after the destruction

Report of the Siegener Zeitung about the laying of the foundation stone from July 1903

The synagogue in Siegen was the religious center of the Jewish community in the Westphalian city ​​of Siegen from its inauguration in 1904 until it was destroyed by arson during the National Socialist November pogroms in 1938 on November 10th .

history

Towards the end of the 19th century the number of Jewish residents of Siegen had increased, so that in 1884 the city's Jewish community was founded. At the time of its founding, the community had around 24 families with around 100 people in total; the first chairman of the community was the Siegen merchant Meyer Löser Stern. In 1891 the community acquired a plot of land on the Siegberg on the Obergraben road , on the southern edge of the medieval core town of Siegens, in order to build a new synagogue there. The dome building was designed by the architect Eduard Fürstenau in Berlin-Steglitz, who at the time was working as a building inspector in the Prussian state building administration. The Siegen architect Hermann Giesler was the site manager . The foundation stone was laid on July 23, 1903; on July 22, 1904 the synagogue was inaugurated.

The burning synagogue in Siegen with spectators, November 10, 1938

Around 34 years after its inauguration, during the November pogroms in 1938, during which hundreds of Jewish places of worship were destroyed in Germany between November 7th and 11th, the Siegen synagogue was opened by a group of members of the SS and SA in civilian clothes devastated and set on fire in front of a large number of onlookers. A bunker was built in 1941 on the site of the synagogue that the city acquired, which was completely destroyed and demolished at the expense of the Jewish community .

In 1947, after several unsuccessful attempts to get the public prosecutor to initiate a trial, a surviving Jewish victor initiated an investigation into the arson . Of the six defendants, three were acquitted in 1948 as passive spectators and three were sentenced to prison terms at the bottom of the sentence. Their versions of the crime - the synagogue was initially "overlooked" and only reluctantly and in a state of emergency - took over the court. For decades it was decisive for the representation of local history.

Memorial and museum

Current condition of the bunker with the premises of the Active Museum

The Active Museum Südwestfalen has existed in the rooms of this air raid shelter since 1996, and sees itself as a documentation and learning place for regional contemporary history. The museum is also a memorial for the victims of the tyranny in the time of National Socialism in the Siegerland - Wittgenstein region . It houses a permanent exhibition on 200 m², the focus of which is on the history of regional Judaism, but also addresses other aspects of regional National Socialism (persecution of the "gypsies", "euthanasia", exploitation of slave laborers, political resistance using the example of the victorious Walter) Chandler ). There are also exhibitions on special topics and other public events. The museum is run by a private association.

See also

• List of synagogues destroyed in the German Reich from 1933 to 1945

literature

• Klaus Dietermann: The Siegen Synagogue. On the construction and destruction of a church , 2nd edition, Siegen 1996
• Klaus Dietermann: Jewish life in the city and country of Siegen , Siegen 1998
• Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann : “With clinking windows and yelling”. Jews and the Volksgemeinschaft in Siegerland and Wittgenstein in the 19th and 20th centuries , Siegen 2009
• Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: War and misery in the Siegerland. On the history of memory after 1945 and on its reference points , in: 10 Years of Learning and Memorial Site Active Museum South Westphalia , Siegen 2006, pp. 19–42
• Kurt Schilde: “Acquisition of the synagogue community Siegen”. Usual real estate process or "Aryanization"? , in: Siegener Articles . Regional History Yearbook, 8 (2003)
• Kurt Schilde: "... accused of ... having set fire to the synagogue in Siegen". The 1948 judgment of the Siegen Regional Court against the arsonists and a commentary , in: Siegener Posts . Yearbook for Regional History 8 (2003), pp. 229-252
• 10 years of learning and memorial site Active Museum Südwestfalen , Siegen 2006

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The history of the synagogue on the website of the Siegen City Archives
2. ↑ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: "With clinking windows and hooting". Jews and the national community in Siegerland and Wittgenstein in the 19th and 20th centuries. Siegen 2009, p. 109 ff.
3. ↑ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: "With clinking windows and hooting". Jews and the national community in Siegerland and Wittgenstein in the 19th and 20th centuries. Siegen 2009, p. 172 ff.

Web links

Commons : Synagoge Siegen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The destruction of the Siegen synagogue on November 10, 1938: Siegen city archives commemorate the Jewish church on Obergraben (accessed on September 10, 2010)
• The Active Museum Südwestfalen on the website of the Working Group of NS Memorials in NRW e. V. (accessed on August 4, 2010)
• Website of the Association for Christian-Jewish Cooperation, Siegen (accessed on August 4, 2010)
• Article on the bunker built in 1941 at Siegener Obergraben on the website bunker-siegen.de (accessed on August 16, 2010)

Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 22.26 "  N , 8 ° 1 ′ 23.16"  E