Steinheim Synagogue (Hanau)

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The Steinheim synagogue in today's Hanau district of Steinheim was damaged in the November pogrom in 1938 and then converted into a residential building.

Geographical location

The synagogue was the district Gross-Steinheim the community Steinheim, at that time still in the Offenbach district of the Grand Duchy and later People's State of Hesse was. Groß-Steinheim was the more important and larger of the two districts. Here the synagogue stood at Ingelheim-Strasse 12 on a corner plot of land facing Wilhelm-Thoerle-Strasse.

history

It was inaugurated on March 16, 1900 and was the fourth building to serve this purpose. There had already been three synagogues in Steinheim since the early 19th century:

  • since 1816 in Neuthorstrasse,
  • then in the former registry of Steinheim Castle and
  • from 1860 a new building "behind the altarist home". This building was used as a synagogue until 1900.

The community had a cemetery not far from the synagogue on the corner of Darmstädter Strasse and Dalbergstrasse ( Old Jewish Cemetery Steinheim ). This was also used as a union cemetery by the surrounding communities until 1892. Occasional burials of today's Hanau community still take place in the New Jewish Cemetery , which was then established .

In the November pogrom of 1938, the interior of the synagogue was destroyed, the windows smashed, and shortly afterwards the remaining board members of the Jewish community were forced to sell the building in early 1939. The purchase price was set at 8,000 Reichsmarks (RM), which was still below the standard value of 9,900 RM. The buyer converted the building into a residential building, largely removing all features that indicated its use as a synagogue. This later led to the incorrect assumption that the house was a new building.

architecture

The three-storey building had an L-shaped floor plan and was built as a solid construction, with a basement and a base. It had a gable roof . The synagogue room was housed in the south wing, took up the full height of the building and had a gallery . He had a small annex that housed the Torah shrine . Light fell into the room through arched windows . The north wing housed two apartments and classrooms. Both wings were connected by the stairwell.

literature

  • Thea Altaras : Synagogues and ritual immersion baths in Hesse - What has happened since 1945? A documentation and analysis of all 264 Hessian places whose synagogues survived the pogrom night of 1938 and the Second World War: 276 architectural descriptions and building histories. Königstein 2007, ISBN 978-3-7845-7794-4 , pp. 344-345.
  • Ernst Henke: Steinheim's Jewish History. Lecture given on the occasion of the commemorative event 100 years of inauguration of the new synagogue in Steinheim am Main October 12, 2000 = Small contributions to Steinheim's history 5. Steinheim a. M. 2001.
  • Ernst Henke: History of the Jews of the city of Steinheim am Main. Cocon, Hanau 2003, ISBN 3-928100-96-3 , pp. 157-161.
  • Leopold Imgram: The architectural and art monuments of Groß-Steinheim am Main . Groß-Steinheim 1930, p. 72.

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 23.4 "  N , 8 ° 54 ′ 41.1"  E