Wawern synagogue (Saar)

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The synagogue in Wawern was built in 1843/44 in Hauptstrasse 81 (today's Saarburger Strasse 14). The synagogue was devastated during the November pogroms in 1938 . It was then used by the Wehrmacht as a warehouse and accommodation for foreign and forced laborers. After the war, the building went into private ownership. In 1981 the former synagogue was listed as a historical monument. The renovation was carried out in 1993 by the municipality, which had acquired the building in 1989. Today it is used as a cultural center where events take place regularly.

synagogue

Presumably there was a prayer room before the synagogue was built. The first plans for the construction of a synagogue date from 1830. In 1843/1844 the synagogue was built in Hauptstrasse 81 (today's Saarburger Strasse 14). The synagogue was a rectangular building 10 meters long and 8 meters wide with a gable roof. The building was designed as a hall with two axes. There were two arched windows on each of the long sides. The entrance was on the west gable side. There was an arched window each to the right and left of the entrance portal. Likewise above the portal. The upper part of the door arch of the portal was also glazed. The east gable had a round arched window in the upper half. To the right and left of the window, about halfway up the building, were two circular glass inlets. It is no longer possible to determine whether there was an anteroom in front of the prayer room. The women's gallery , which could be reached by stairs, ran along the side walls to the east wall. In 1920 the synagogue was renovated. During the November pogroms in 1938, the synagogue was devastated and the furnishings were destroyed. Until the end of the war it served the Wehrmacht as a material and ammunition store and as accommodation for foreign and forced laborers. In 1945 the synagogue was confiscated by the Allies and also used as a warehouse until it was returned to the Jewish community in the 1950s. After the return, the Jewish community offered the building to the Wawern community for sale. However, the contract was awarded to a private person who used the building as a workshop and storage room. In 1981 the former synagogue was listed as a historical monument. The municipality of Wawern bought the building in 1989 and had it extensively restored in 1993. Today it serves as a cultural center where events take place regularly.

Wawern Jewish Community

The first Jewish families settled in Wawern in 1730. The settlement probably goes back to the 1723 issued by Elector Franz Georg von Schönborn for Jewish families to stay in the Kurtrierische area. Franz Georg von Schönborn had given these to 165 Jewish families. The number of members of the Jewish community rose steadily until the second half of the 19th century. In 1889, the Jewish population was 20 percent of the total population of Wawern. At times, a separate religion teacher was employed, who also performed the duties of prayer leader and shochet . The religious school and the mikveh were housed in a separate building. This is the building at Saarburger Straße 13, which is now a listed building. The mikvah that was in the basement has no longer been preserved. The community did not have its own cemetery. The deceased were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Niederleuken. The most famous son of the municipality of Wawern is Joseph Kahn , who was Chief Rabbi of Trier from 1841 until his death in 1875 . From 1933, after the seizure of power of Adolf Hitler , the Jewish inhabitants were increasingly disenfranchised. In addition, there were repeated anti-Jewish actions. As a result, many Jewish families left Wawern. In 1933, 46 Jewish residents made up 8.9 percent of the population of Wawern. At the time of the November pogroms in 1938, only 29 people of Jewish faith lived in the village. By October 1940, all Jewish residents had left Wawern. Some Jewish residents managed to flee to the United States , Bolivia , England, and Cuba .

Development of the Jewish population

year Jews Jewish families
1730 4th
1808 37
1818 37
1843 71
1848 71
1871 98
1895 73
1900 53
1925 46
1933 46
1938 16
Late 1940 no

Source: alemannia-judaica.de; jewische-gemeinden.de

The memorial book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under National Socialist Tyranny 1933–1945 and the Central Database of the Names of the Holocaust Victims of Yad Vashem list 39 members of the Wawern Jewish community (who were born there or lived there temporarily) who were during the Nazi era were murdered.

literature

  • Pascale Eberhard: The Reichspogromnacht of November 9/10, 1938 in Wawern. A look back 70 years later. In: District administration Trier-Saarburg (Hrsg.): Yearbook of the district Trier-Saarburg (= yearbook of the district Trier-Saarburg. 2009). Schneider & Alt GmbH, Trier 2008, pp. 244-255.
  • Cilli Kasper-Holtkatte: Jews on the move. On the social history of a minority in the Saar-Mosel area around 1800. In: Helmut Castritius (Ed.), Alfred Haverkamp (Ed.), Franz Irsigler (Ed.), Stefi Jersch-Wenzel (Ed.): Research on the history of the Jews (= Research on the history of the Jews. Volume 3). Hahnsche Buchhandlung Verlag, Hanover 1996, ISBN 978-3775256124 . ( online )
  • Willi Körtels : Materials on the history of the Jews from Wawern. Konz 2013. ( online )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Informational directory of cultural monuments (Trier-Saarburg district) (PDF) General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate. P. 74. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c Wawern with Ayl . alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c Wawern (Rhineland-Palatinate) . jewische-gemeinden.de. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  4. ^ Former synagogue Wawern . Kulturdb.de. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  5. ↑ Willi Körtels: Materials on the history of the Jews from Wawern. Konz 2013, p. 17. ( online )
  6. ↑ Willi Körtels: Materials on the history of the Jews from Wawern. Konz 2013, pp. 30–32. ( online )
  7. ↑ Commemorative Book Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945 . Federal Archives. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  8. ^ Central database of the names of Holocaust victims . Yad Vashem - International Holocaust Memorial. Retrieved April 1, 2020.

Coordinates: 49 ° 39 '9.4 "  N , 6 ° 33" 0.2 "  E