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Königsberg Synagogue

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The Königsberg Synagogue, called at the time, the New Synagogue (German: Neue Synagoge), was a former Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Königsberg in Prussia, East Prussia, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia).

New Synagogue, Königsberg
German: Neue Synagoge
The former synagoge in the 19th century
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism (former)
RiteNusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organisational statusSynagogue (1896–1938)
StatusDestroyed
Location
LocationKönigsberg, East Prussia (modern Kaliningrad)
CountryGermany (now Russia)
Königsberg Synagogue is located in Germany
Königsberg Synagogue
Location of the former synagogue in Germany,
as it was in 1937
Geographic coordinates54°42′20″N 20°30′56″E / 54.7056833333°N 20.5155527778°E / 54.7056833333; 20.5155527778
Architecture
Architect(s)Cremer & Wolffenstein
TypeSynagogue architecture
Style
Date established1722 (as a congregation)
Completed1896
DestroyedNovember 1938
(during Kristallnacht)
Dome(s)One

The New Synagogue was designed by Cremer & Wolffenstein in the Romanesque Revival style, Aesopian in its crafting, and completed in 1896 to replace the Old Synagogue. The New Synagogue was destroyed by Nazis in the aftermath of Kristallnacht, that occurred during November 1938. Also destroyed was the Adass Jisroel synagogue.

In 2018 a completely new synagogue was opened on the site of the former destroyed synagogue, at 1a Oktyabr'skaya Street, Kaliningrad.[1]

History

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In 1508 two Jewish physicians were allowed to settle in the city.[2] 307 Jews lived at Königsberg in 1756. There were 1,027 Jews in Königsberg in 1817. In 1864 there lived 3,024 Jews. In 1880 there were 5,000 Jews at the city. In 1900 there were only 3,975 Jews in Königsberg. The first synagogue was a chapel built in 1680 in Burgfreiheit (a location which was a ducal Prussian immunity district around the castle, not administrated by the city).

In 1704 there was the formation of the Jewish congregation, when they acquired a Jewish cemetery and when they founded a "Chevra Kaddisha". In 1722 they received a constitution. In 1756 a new synagogue in Schnürlingsdamm street was dedicated but destroyed by the city fire in 1811. In 1815 a new synagogue was constructed on the same location, meanwhile called Synagogenstrasse #2. The second constitution of the Jewish congregation was issued in 1811.

Some Orthodox congregants seceded from the Jewish Congregation of Königsberg, which they deemed too liberal, and founded the Israelite Synagogal Congregation of «Adass Jisroel» (German: Israelitische Synagogengemeinde «Adass Jisroel»).[a] In 1893 the Israelite Synagogal Congregation built its own synagogue in Synagogenstraße #14–15. Soon later the mainstream Jewish Congregation of Königsberg built a new and larger place of worship, therefore called New Synagogue, dedicated in August 1896 in Lomse. The synagogue in Synagogenstrasse #2 was called Old Synagogue since.

The New Synagogue, as well as the Old Synagogue, were destroyed in the November Pogrom in the night of November 9–10, 1938. The Adass Jisroel synagogue was terribly vandalised, but spared from arson, and could thus be restored to serve as Jewish place of worship.[3] In July 1939 the Gestapo ordered the merger of the smaller Israelite Synagogal Congregation in the larger Jewish Congregation of Königsberg, which now had to enlist also all non-Jews such as Christians and irreligionists, whom the Nazis categorised as Jews because they had three or more Jewish grandparents. The systematic deportations of Jewish Germans (and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent), starting in October 1941,[b] brought the congregational life in Königsberg to a halt by November 1942.

Replacement synagogue

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In October 2011 the foundation cornerstone of the new synagogue was erected in the same place, where an exact replica of the building destroyed in 1938 was planned.[4] The plaque attached to the cornerstone reportedly was damaged and sprayed with neo-Nazi symbols,[5] but later was cleaned and repaired. The synagogue was reopened in 2018 on the 80th anniversary of its destruction.[6]

Clergy

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The following individuals have served as rabbi of the congregation:

Ordinal Name Term started Term ended Time in office Notes
1 Solomon Fürst 1707 1722 14–15 years Wrote a cabbalistic work and a prayer, which is printed in Hebrew and German language
2 Aryeh (Löb) Epstein ben Mordecai 1745 1775 29–30 years
3 Samuel Wigdor 1777 1784 6–7 years
4 Shimshon ben Mordechai 1707 1722 14–15 years
5 Joshua Bär Herzfeld 1800 1814 13–14 years
6 Joseph Levin Saalschütz 1814 1823 8–9 years
7 Wolff Laseron 1824 1828 3–4 years
8 Jacob Hirsch Mecklenburg 1831 1865 33–34 years Wrote the "Ha-Ketav we-ha-Qabbalah"
9 Isaac Bamberger
10 Hermann Vogelstein 1897

Notable members

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The community was one of the pioneers of modern culture.[peacock prose] Jews of Königsberg have taken an important part in the struggle for the Jewish emancipation.[citation needed]

In 1942 most of the remaining Jews of Königsberg were murdered in Maly Trostinez (Minsk), Theresienstadt and Auschwitz.[citation needed][relevant?]

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Destroyed synagogue

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  •  
    A postcard image of the former synagogue with Lindenstraße (today's ulitsa Oktyabrskaia)
  •  
    The former synagogue, 1900
  •  
    The interior of the former synagogue, undated

Replacement synagogue

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  •  
    Foundation stone and re-construction site
  •  
    Rebuilding of synagogue, August 2018
  •  
    The rebuilt synagogue, 2019

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ In the Ashkenazzi pronunciation of Hebrew the words עדת ישראל become Adass Jisroel in German orthography, which was the official name in Latin letters. In English orthography Adas Yisro'el would better represent the Ashkenazzi pronunciation. In Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation, today prevailing, the words עדת ישראל become Adat Yisra'el in English.[citation needed]
  2. ^ The deportations of Jews and Gentiles of Jewish descent from Austria and Pomerania (both to Poland) as well as Baden and the Palatinate (both to France) had remained a spontaneous episode.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Synagogue in Kaliningrad". Historic synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  2. ^ "FJC | Communities | Kaliningrad". Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  3. ^ Michael Wieck, Zeugnis vom Untergang Königsbergs: Ein «Geltungsjude» berichtet (11990), Munich: Beck, 82005, (Beck'sche Reihe; vol. 1608), pp. 81 and 194. ISBN 3-406-51115-5.
  4. ^ "Kaliningrad Jews battle circus over restoring synagogue". November 2, 2011.
  5. ^ "Baltic Republican Party". Archived from the original on July 10, 2012.
  6. ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan (November 9, 2018). "Russia's Westernmost Synagogue Rebuilt 80 Years After Kristallnacht Destruction". The Jewish Week. Retrieved November 10, 2018.

Bibliography

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  • Borowski, Beitrag zur Neueren Geschichte der Juden in Preussen, Besonders in Beziehung auf lhre Freieren Gottesdienstlichen Uebungen, in: Preussisches Archiv, ii., Königsberg, 1790; idem, Moses Mendelssohns und David Kypkers Aufsätze über Jüdische Gebete und Festfeiern, ib. 1791.
  • Jolowicz, Geschichte der Juden in Königsberg in Preussen, Posen, 1867.
  • Saalschütz, Zur Geschichte der Synagogengemeinde in Königsberg, in Monatsschrift, vi.-ix.
  • Vogelstein, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Unterrichtswesens in der Jüdischen Gemeinde zu Königsberg in Preussen, Königsberg, 1903.
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