Spandau Synagogue

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Coordinates: 52°32′13″N 13°12′28″E / 52.53694°N 13.20778°E / 52.53694; 13.20778
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Spandau Synagogue
Memorial (1988) opposite the synagogue site
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism
LeadershipRabbi Arthur Löwenstamm (from 1917 to 1938)[1]
Year consecrated1895[1]
StatusDestroyed
Location
Location12 Lindenufer[2] (corner of Lindenufer and Kammerstraße), Spandau, Berlin, Germany
MunicipalitySpandau, Berlin
Geographic coordinates52°32′13″N 13°12′28″E / 52.53694°N 13.20778°E / 52.53694; 13.20778
Architecture
Architect(s)Cremer & Wolffenstein[2]
Completed1895
Demolished1942
Capacity296 seats[2]

Spandau Synagogue ("Synagoge Spandau") was a synagogue at 12 Lindenufer[2] in the Old Town area of Spandau, Berlin, Germany. It was also known as Spandauer Vereinssynagoge[3] (i.e. Spandau private synagogue). The synagogue was built in 1894–95[2] and was destroyed on 9 November 1938 (Kristallnacht) when it was set on fire.[4][5][nb 1] The ruins were removed, probably in 1942.[1][2] The site is now marked by a memorial tablet, installed in 1988. The congregation maintained a Jewish cemetery, on Spandau's Neue Bergstrasse, which was closed by the Nazi government [1] and was evacuated in 1939 to the Cemetery of the Orthodox congregation Adass Jisroel in Berlin.[4]

History[edit]

Memorial tablet (1988) commemorating the synagogue at Spandau. On the site of the former synagogue in Spandau's Old Town, it was sculpted by Volkmar Haase
The German inscription on the memorial reads: "This memorial commemorates the suffering of Spandau's citizens of Jewish faith during the Terror of the National Socialists. Not far from this point, at Lindenufer 12, stood the Jewish house of worship, which was destroyed in 1938."
1988 memorial extended in 2012 to commemorate the Jews from Spandau who were deported and murdered

In 1844 there were only six Jewish families in Spandau. They held services in rented rooms.[1] Late in 1894, Berlin-based architects Wilhelm Albert Cremer and Richard Wolffenstein began the construction of the modern community's first and only synagogue,[nb 2] which was dedicated by the Spandau Jewish community on 15 September 1895[1] in the presence of Spandau's Mayor, Wilhelm Georg Koeltze (1852–1939), and other local dignitaries. The building, on a street corner with facades on two sides, was crowned by an octagonal tower.[6]

On 6 December 1916, Arthur Löwenstamm became the synagogue's first permanent rabbi. He took up his duties on 1 April 1917 and continued until the autumn of 1938. In May 1939, the congregation became part of the official Jewish Community of Berlin.[1]

Memorials[edit]

Memorial commemorating the synagogue[edit]

At the initiative of the Spandau Borough Council, a memorial tablet was unveiled in 1988 on the site of the former synagogue. On 9 November 2005, a memorial plaque was placed on the pavement in front of Löwenstamm's former home at Feldstraße 11, in Spandau,[7] and close to a former Jewish old people's home which had been maintained by the synagogue.[1]

Memorial to the Jews from Spandau who were deported and murdered[edit]

In a park opposite the site of the former synagogue there is a memorial, designed by Ruth Golan and Kay Zareh[8] and installed in 1988, to the Jews from Spandau who were deported and murdered by the Nazis.[9] The memorial symbolises a building and tower that have been violently torn down, with one now behind the other. Through the split tower an eternal light shines as a symbol of remembrance of the dead.[10]

In 2012, the memorial was extended by a wall on which the names of 115 deported and murdered Jews from Spandau are recorded. This was also designed by Ruth Golan and Kay Zareh. The project was supported by the Evangelical Church of Spandau district, the district office of Spandau and private sponsors. The memorial was inaugurated on 9 November 2012, the 74th anniversary of Kristallnacht.[9]

The German inscription on the memorial reads: "This memorial commemorates the suffering of Spandau's citizens of Jewish faith during the Terror of the National Socialists. Not far from this point, at Lindenufer 12, stood the Jewish house of worship, which was destroyed in 1938."

The memorial is located on Lindenufer (Altstadt Spandau) at ♁ 52 ° 32 '13 " N, 13 ° 12 '28 " E.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Frederic Zeller (1924–1994), who was then a Jewish teenager in Spandau, gives an eyewitness account of the burning of the synagogue in his memoir: Frederic Zeller (1989). When Time Ran Out: Coming of Age in the Third Reich. London: W. H. Allen & Co. pp. 188–189. ISBN 0-491-03614-0.
  2. ^ Jews are known to have settled in Spandau as early as the 13th century and a synagogue existed in 1342. The community was expelled in the 15th century and Jews did not return until the 18th century. "Spandau". Tel Aviv, Israel: The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. Retrieved 11 September 2017.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Berlin – 12 Lindenufer / 7 Kammerstrasse (Spandau Locality)". Destroyed German synagogues and communities. Synagogue Memorial. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Mahnmal "Flammenwand" – Synagogen Berlins (Memorial "Wall of Flame" – Berlin's synagogues)". Edition Luisenstadt. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Monument Spandauer Vereinssynagoge". TracesofWar.com. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Eyewitness account by Rabbi A. Loewenstamm of the destruction of the synagogue in Spandau during the November Pogrom, ref 1656/2/4/291". Wiener Holocaust Library. 1956. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  5. ^ Alois Kaulen and Joachim Pohl (1988). Juden in Spandau vom Mittelalter bis 1945. Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich. pp. 108–109.
  6. ^ Harold Hammer-Schenk [in German] (1997). Synagogen, in Berlin und seine Bauten, Teil VI, Sakralbauten (Synagogues in Berlin and its Buildings, Part VI, Religious Buildings). Berlin: Ernst & Sohn. ISBN 3-433-01016-1.
  7. ^ "Arthur Löwenstamm Ratibor/Oberschlesien 20.12.1882 – Manchester 22.4.1965". gedenktafeln-in-berlin.de. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Memorial at Lindenufer". Evangelische Kirche Spandau (Evangelical Church Spandau). Retrieved 11 August 2016.

External links[edit]

Media related to Synagoge Spandau at Wikimedia Commons

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