The Spandau Synagogue () was a former

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

congregation and

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, located at 12 Lindenufer, in the Old Town area of Spandau,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Also known as ''Spandauer Vereinssynagoge'' (translated as Spandau private synagogue), the synagogue was built in 1894–95 and destroyed during ''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

'' on 9 November 1938 when it was set on fire. The ruins were removed, probably in 1942. The site is now marked by a

memorial tablet A spirit tablet, memorial tablet, or ancestral tablet is a placard that people used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor as well as to enclose it. The name of the deity or the past ancestor is usually inscribed onto the tablet. Wit ...

, installed in 1988. The congregation maintained a Jewish cemetery, on Spandau's Neue Bergstrasse, which was closed by the Nazi government and was evacuated in 1939 to the cemetery of the Orthodox congregation Adass Jisroel in Berlin.

History

In 1844 there were six Jewish families in Spandau. They held services in rented rooms. Late in 1894, Berlin-based architects Wilhelm Albert Cremer and Richard Wolffenstein began the construction of the modern community's first and only synagogue, which was dedicated by the Spandau Jewish community on 15 September 1895 in the presence of Spandau's

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

, Wilhelm Georg Koeltze (1852–1939), and other local dignitaries. The building, on a street corner with façades on two sides, was crowned by an

octagonal In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a hex ...

tower. On 6 December 1916,

Arthur Löwenstamm Arthur Löwenstamm (also spelt Loewenstamm) (20 December 1882– 22 April 1965) was a Jewish theologian, writer and rabbi in Berlin and in London, where he came in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He was the last rabbi of the Jewish commun ...

became the synagogue's first permanent

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

. 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.

Memorials

Memorial commemorating the synagogue

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, and close to a former Jewish old people's home which had been maintained by the synagogue.

Memorial to the Deported and Murdered Jews of Spandau

Designed by Ruth Golan and Kay Zareh a memorial was installed in 1988, in a park opposite the site of the former synagogue, dedicated in honour of the Jews from Spandau who were deported and murdered by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. The memorial symbolises a building and tower that were 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. In 2012, the memorial was extended by a brick wall on which the names of 115 deported and murdered Jews from Spandau are recorded. Also designed by Golan and 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, on the 74th anniversary of ''Kristallnacht''. The German inscription on the memorial, located on Lindenufer (

Altstadt Spandau Altstadt Spandau is the historic centre (old town) of the Spandau borough in the western suburbs of Berlin, situated on the right bank of the Havel river by its confluence with the Spree (river), Spree tributary. It arose near the site of a former ...

) at , reads:

Gallery

Denkmal Lindenufer 12 (Span) Synagoge Spandau.jpg, Memorial for the deported and murdered Jews of Spandau, sculpted by Golan and Zareh and erected in 1988. Gedenktafel Lindenufer 12 (Span) Synagoge Spandau.jpg, Inscription on the memorial, English translation above. Mahnmal Lindenufer Spandau.jpg, 2012 extension of the memorial with the names of 115 Spandau Jews who were deported and murdered.

Notes

References

External links

{{Synagogues in Germany 1840s establishments in the German Confederation 1938 disestablishments in Germany 19th-century synagogues in Germany Buildings and structures in Spandau Cremer & Wolffenstein Heritage sites in Berlin Holocaust memorials in Germany Jewish German history Jewish organizations established in the 1840s Monuments and memorials to the victims of Nazism in Berlin Orthodox synagogues in Germany Spandau Synagogues completed in 1895 Synagogues destroyed during Kristallnacht (Germany) Synagogues in Berlin