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User:Yngvadottir/Old main synagogue, Munich

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Main synagogue in 1889

The 'old main synagogue was the primary synagogue of the Jewish community [de] in Munich, Germany, from 1887 to 1938, when it was demolished by order of Adolf Hitler. It occupied a prominent site in central Munich that was offered to the community for sale by order of King Ludwig II; the site now underlies the Oberpollinger department store, and the synagogue is commemorated by a memorial on an adjacent street.

Synagogue edit

The synagogue was designed by the Thuringian Albert Schmidt [de] in Romanesque revival style, the first monumental building in that style in Munich.[1][2] The exterior was brick with stone detailing. The site was at 7 Herzog-Max-Straße; the Künstlerhaus [de] was subsequently built on an adjacent site. The primary entrance façade at the west end faced towards Lenbachplatz; this had a rosette window surmounted by a prominent octagonal tower flanked by two turrets, and corner stairway towers.

The interior worship space was rib vaulted, with round columns supporting the women's balcony and creating two side aisles. Steps led up to the sanctuary at the east end, and the synagogue had an organ. It seated 1,000 men and 800 women, making it the third largest synagogue in Germany at the time.[1]

History edit

 
Interior in 1887
 
Memorial erected in 1969

The Jewish community of Munich had outgrown its former main synagogue at 7 Westenriederstraße, inaugurated in 1826 with a capacity of 320. Attempts to replace it began in the 1860s,[3] after an 1813 edict of the Kingdom of Bavaria [de] was repealed, leading to a great increase in Jewish immigration. Doctrinal conflict within the congregation as well as official refusal of financial help complicated the task of funding a replacement building. The new synagogue was finally made possible by King Ludwig II, who arranged in 1882 for the site in Herzog-Max-Straße to be made available to the community.[4] Construction began on 14 February 1884, and the new synagogue was ceremonially inaugurated on 16 September 1887 in the presence of city and kingdom officials, including Prince Luitpold, the regent.[1][5] The Orthodox faction in the community, who objected to the style of the building and especially to the choir and use of the organ on the Sabbath, had been holding separate prayers since 1876, and on 25 March 1892 inaugurated their own synagogue nearby, in Herzog-Rudolf-Straße.[6]

Munich was the home city of Nazism, and the synagogue in Herzog-Max-Straße was one of the first in Germany to be destroyed after the Nazis came to power. Hitler personally ordered its demolition on 7 June 1938 after visiting the Künstlerhaus, and demolition began on 9 June.[7][8][5] Community members had worked all night to remove the Torah scrolls and other items from the synagogue.[9] Buildings at 3 and 5 Herzog-Max-Straße that were also the property of the Jewish community and had housed community offices were used from 1940 for a branch of the SS Lebensborn eugenics programme.[10]

A memorial to the old main synagogue, on the corner of Maxburgstraße, is by Herbert Peters [de] and was unveiled on 9 November 1969.[11] The site of the synagogue was used for parking. It was sold in the 1990s, and is now under the northern extension of the Oberpollinger department store, completed in 2006. The proceeds of the sale contributed to the cost of building a complex of Jewish Centre, Jewish Museum Munich, and new Munich main synagogue, which like the synagogue in Herzog-Rudolf-Straße (destroyed in November 1938) is called Ohel Jakob. The new synagogue was inaugurated on 9 November 2006.[8]

In July 2023, renewal work on flood defences in the River Isar uncovered rubble that was identified from its Hebrew inscriptions as marble from the interior of the old synagogue. The material is believed to have been sunk in the river in the 1950s.[5][12][13]

Rabbis edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Markus Pyka, "Das Werden einer großstädtischer Gemeinde (1848–1892)", in: Richard Bauer and Michael Brenner, eds., Jüdisches München: vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Munich: Beck, 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-54979-3, p. 100 (in German).
  2. ^ "Schmidt, Albert: Neue Synagoge, München", Technical University of Munich, with plan and cross-section (in German).
  3. ^ Alexandra Klei, Jüdisches Bauen in Nachkriegsdeutschland: Der Architekt Hermann Zvi Guttmann, Berlin: Neofelis, 2017, ISBN 978-3-95808-116-1, p. 320 (in German).
  4. ^ Pyka, pp. 98–99.
  5. ^ a b c Michael Schleicher, "'Das ist alles noch sehr unwirklich': Überreste von Münchens einstiger Hauptsynagoge an der Isar entdeckt", Münchner Merkur, 6 July 2023 (in German).
  6. ^ Pyka, pp. 100–01.
  7. ^ Pyka, pp. 173–75.
  8. ^ a b Angelika Dietrich, "Zurück im Herzen Münchens", Die Zeit, updated 22 November 2006 (in German).
  9. ^ "Hitler Orders Razing of Old Synagogue in Munich", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 12 June 1938.
  10. ^ Pyka, p. 177.
  11. ^ Konrad Hilpert, "Gedenkstein für die Münchner Hauptsynagoge", in: Erinnerungsorte in München: beschrieben von den Teilnehmern des Hauptseminars "Gedenken und Gedächtnis" am Lehrstuhl für Moraltheologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München 2004, pp. 58–61 (in German).
  12. ^ Rachel Treisman, "Parts of a Munich synagogue demolished by Nazis are found in a river 85 years later", NPR, 6 July 2023.
  13. ^ Andrea Schlaier, "Überreste der einstigen Münchner Hauptsynagoge in der Isar entdeckt", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 5 July 2023 (in German).
  14. ^ "Rabbiner der IKG seit 1815", Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern, retrieved 10 July 2023 (in German).
 
Demolition of the synagogue in 1938

External links edit

48°8′23″N 11°34′7″E / 48.13972°N 11.56861°E / 48.13972; 11.56861

Category:Former synagogues in Germany Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Munich Category:Synagogues completed in 1887 Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1938

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