Spandau Synagogue
| Spandau Synagogue | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Location | 12 Lindenufer (corner of Lindenufer and Kammerstraße), Spandau, Berlin, Germany |
| Affiliation | Orthodox Judaism |
| Municipality | Spandau, Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Year consecrated | 1895 |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Leadership | Rabbi Arthur Löwenstamm (from 1917 to 1938) |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Cremer & Wolffenstein |
| Completed | 1895 |
| Demolished | 1942 |
| Capacity | 296 seats |
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) when it was set on fire. 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 in 1940.
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, which was dedicated by the Spandau Jewish community on 15 September 1895 in the presence of Spandau's Mayor, (1852–1939), and other local dignatories. The building, on a street corner with facades on two sides, was crowned by an octagonal tower.
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.
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.
In a park opposite the site of the former synagogue there is a memorial, designed by and Kay Zareh and installed in 1988, to the Jews from Spandau who were deported and murdered by the Nazis. 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.
...
Wikipedia