Spandau Synagogue ("Synagoge Spandau") was a synagogue at 12 Lindenufer
in
the Old Town area of Spandau, Berlin, Germany. It was also known as Spandauer Vereinssynagoge
(i.e. Spandau private synagogue). The synagogue was built in 1894–95
and was destroyed on 9 November 1938 (
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung, (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel, (SS) paramilitary forces along ...
) when it was
set on fire.
[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: ] The ruins were removed, probably in 1942.
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
and was evacuated in 1939 to the
Cemetery of the Orthodox congregation Adass Jisroel in Berlin.
History

In 1844 there were only 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,
[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. ] 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 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...
,
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
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") 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, whic ...
tower.
On 6 December 1916,
Arthur Löwenstamm 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 ...
. 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 Jews from Spandau who were deported and murdered
In a park opposite the site of the former synagogue there is a memorial, designed by
Ruth Golan and Kay Zareh
and installed in 1988, to the Jews from Spandau who were
deported and murdered by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
.
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.
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.
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
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 tributary. It arose near the site of a former Slavic gord ...
) at ♁ 52 ° 32 '13 " N, 13 ° 12 '28 " E.
See also
*Rabbi
Arthur Löwenstamm
*
Monuments in Spandau ''(German Wikipedia)''
Notes
References
External links
{{Commons category-inline, Synagoge Spandau
1895 establishments in Germany
1938 disestablishments in Germany
Buildings and structures in Spandau
Cremer & Wolffenstein
Heritage sites in Berlin
Holocaust memorials in Germany
Jewish German history
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