The New Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse in the Spandauer Vorstadt in the Mitte district (Mitte district) of Berlin is a building of outstanding importance for the history of the Jews in Berlin and is an important architectural monument. It was inaugurated in 1866. The remaining part of the building is under monument protection. It was reopened after restoration in 1995, but was not reopened. The architects were Eduard Knoblauch and Friedrich August Stüler.
In the middle of the 19th century the Jewish community in Berlin had
grown rapidly. Around 1860 it had about 28,000 members. The only
synagogue at that time - later called "Old Synagogue" - was in
Heidereutergasse, near Hackescher Markt in Berlin-Mitte and no longer
offered enough space. After the congregation had acquired a piece of
land on Oranienburger Strasse in 1856, in a residential area with a
strong Jewish presence, an architectural competition for the new
synagogue was announced on April 7, 1857. The chairman of the
competition commission was the busy architect Eduard Knoblauch, who had
been a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts since 1845. The designs
received were not convincing. Garlic himself was commissioned with the
planning – he had already satisfactorily managed the conversion of the
old synagogue and the new construction of the Jewish hospital. When he
became seriously ill in 1859, he was replaced by the Prussian court
architect and "king's architect" Friedrich August Stüler, who was a
friend of Knoblauch. He took over the construction according to his
ideas and designed the interior. Garlic's employee Hermann Hähnel was in
charge of construction management.
Construction began after the
cornerstone was laid on May 20, 1859; the topping-out ceremony was
celebrated as early as July 1861. But then there were delays. The
interior was unusually elaborate and material shortages arose during the
German-Danish War of 1864. After Stüler's death in 1865, Eduard
Knoblauch's sons Gustav and Edmund Knoblauch completed the construction.
The finished synagogue could not be inaugurated until the Jewish New
Year on September 5, 1866 - the 25th of Elul 5626 according to the
Jewish calendar. The then Prussian Prime Minister and later Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck was present at the ceremony.
Eduard Knoblauch
based his design on elements in the oriental style, he was particularly
inspired by the Alhambra in Granada in southern Spain. This style seemed
alien to the Prussian environment at the time, but was not uncommon in
synagogue construction in the mid-19th century.
The cost was
originally estimated at 125,000 thalers, which increased sixfold by the
time of completion, totaling 750,000 thalers.
"We recommend anyone
who is interested in architectural things, in solving new, difficult
tasks within architecture, to visit this rich Jewish house of worship,
which in terms of splendor and magnificence puts everything in the shade
in the Christian churches of our capital have to show."
- Theodor
Fontane
On September 6, 1866, the day after the inauguration, the
National newspaper ruled:
"The new house of worship is a pride of
Berlin's Jewish community, but more than that, it is an adornment of the
city, one of the most remarkable creations of modern Moorish-style
architecture and one of the finest building ventures that the North
German Residence has carried out in recent years and a fairytale
building that, in the midst of a rather sober part of our residence,
introduces us to the fantastic wonders of a modern Alhambra, with its
graceful light columns, its sweeping semicircular arches, its colorful
arabesques, its multifaceted carvings, with all the enchanting magic of
the Moorish style.”
The Vossische Zeitung wrote:
“The light
streams through the colorful panes, magically subdued and transfigured.
Ceilings, walls, columns, arches and windows are adorned with lavish
splendor and, with their gilding and decorations, form a wonderful
arabesque wreath of fairy-like, otherworldly effect that intertwines to
form a harmonious whole.”
In 1877, the New Synagogue received the
first electric lighting in the city of Berlin, which was also described
as a "fairy-like" moment in the Augsburger Latest News:
“The first
attempt to illuminate a public building with electric light took place
in the new synagogue in Berlin. The work was from the HH. Siemens and
Halske taken over. In the courtyard of the building, a locomobile
produced the electric light, which was conducted through exposed wires
over the roof of the building into two of the five round windows,
through which the gas light usually falls into the synagogue from above.
[…] The brightness that the same [electric light] spread left nothing to
be desired. Even on the last pews of the gallery, writing could be read
much more easily than by gaslight, although, as mentioned, the light was
supplied through only two openings. […] Eventually, the building was
illuminated from the outside, creating an almost fairy-like effect.”
Layout
The floor plan of the Berlin synagogue is based on the
special shape of the property, which is elongated and angled backwards
from Oranienburger Straße to the right by about 15 degrees in the
longitudinal axis. Behind the head building on Oranienburger Strasse is
a polygonal, domed vestibule, the vestibule and the small ante- or
weekday synagogue. Until 1958, the building of the main synagogue with a
hall for weddings and a rabbi's room was attached. The frontage is 29
meters wide and the whole lot is 97 meters long. The dimensions of the
main synagogue before its final destruction were: length 45 meters,
width 40 meters, with the large hall of the main synagogue seating 3000
(according to another source: divided into 1800 seats for men and 1200
seats for women).
Exterior architecture
The Berlin synagogue
on Oranienburger Strasse is the earliest example of a combination of
two-tower façade, dome and three-part portal. The façade facing
Oranienburger Strasse is richly structured with shaped stones and
terracottas, accentuated with colored glazed bricks. The three-axis
central section is flanked by protruding side avant-corps with domed,
octagonal tower attachments. The two kiosk and tempietto-like tower tops
are each placed on square side projections, with the small columns in
front of the tower tops being kept in the Alhambra style. The motif of
the three arches characterizes the facade. This motif can be seen in the
three-arcade entrance as well as in the three round-arched windows on
the upper floor of the central wing, whose tracery rods are in turn
divided into three arches. The tambour of the dome takes up the same
motif, so small, three-part arched windows can be seen in the tambour.
The tambour dome above the vestibule, covered with gilded ribs, is
exactly 50.21 meters high at its highest point and is the highlight of
the building that can be seen from afar. For the shape of the dome, the
builder used Indian-Islamic architecture, using the Royal Pavilion in
Brighton as a model.
Above the entrance is the inscription in
gold-colored letters: פתחו שערים ויבא גוי צדיק שמר אמנים. It is verse
26:2 EU from the book of Isaiah in Hebrew. Its German translation reads:
"Open the gates so that the righteous people move in, they keep their
loyalty."
Interior design
Before it was finally destroyed in
1958, the interior architecture of the main synagogue appeared as a
three-aisled sacred building divided into five bays, with a glass
hanging dome and a barrel vault visible from one bay to the other in the
main nave.
Two technical devices were noteworthy. One special
feature was the extensive use of cast iron as a building material. The
side aisles had been divided by cast-iron, painted buttresses, which
appeared as ten painted cast-iron arcades on the lower floor and five
arcades on the upper floor. The arches of the lower row of columns
supporting the galleries appeared in both Moorish and Indian
architecture. More cast iron had been used invisibly in the construction
of the hall's ceiling and hanging cupolas. The height to the top of the
flat and hanging dome was 24.32 meters.
The second technical
feature was the well thought-out lighting of the glass hanging domes and
the side windows. The glazed round openings of the domes featured double
glazing, with the outer panes being plain clear glass and the glass
panes on the inside of the dome being colored. Between these two panes
of glass was gas lighting, which made the colored inner panes shine
brightly from the inside.
Furnishing
Models for the Aron
ha-Qodesch were the basic form of a Christian altar canopy and the
pavilion of the court of the lions in Granada. The Aron ha-Qodesh, for
example, showed circular arcades reminiscent of the arcades in the
Alhambra's Court of Lions. The upper end of the Aron ha-Qodesh was a
ribbed dome on a pillar wreath, with the ornamentation of the half-dome
of the Torah ark repeating the division of the large outer main dome
with ribs and a honeycomb pattern. The ornamentation of the semi-dome of
the Torah ark showed a star pattern consisting of two squares placed one
inside the other. Rosettes, tendrils and plant ornaments enriched the
ornamentation.
Anti-Semites perceived the magnificent
building with the gleaming gold dome as a provocation. But it also
sparked heated debates among the Jewish population. Liberal Jews
objected that the unfamiliar Moorish architectural style emphasized
the strangeness of the Jewish religion and thus hindered the desired
integration process. Conservative Jews expressed reservations about
the various innovations in worship and interior design. The
community board had appointed the reform-oriented Rabbi Joseph Aub
to the New Synagogue. The service was held according to the New
Rite. This led to tensions in the congregation, in particular a
church service with organ music - the instrument was installed in
1868 - many did not find appropriate. In the new building they saw a
"beautiful theatre, but no synagogue [...]". The disagreements
eventually led to the split. In 1869 Adass Yisroel was formed, a
group of dissatisfied conservative members who left the community in
1872 and received official approval as an Israelite synagogue
community in 1885.
However, the majority viewed the building
with pride and satisfaction, as a symbol of the importance and
self-confidence of the Jewish community in Berlin. The largest, most
expensive and most magnificent Jewish church in Germany, also an
example of the use of the most modern building techniques, became a
much-noticed sight.
During the nationwide pogroms on the
night of November 9/10, 1938, members of the SA began setting fire
to the New Synagogue. The district chief of the nearby police
station 16, Wilhelm Krützfeld, opposed the arsonists, referred to
the fact that the building had been listed for decades, alerted the
fire brigade, who were able to extinguish the fire that had started
inside the building, and thus saved the synagogue from destruction.
Krützfeld, who had acted according to the rules, was often subjected
to harassment at work. A commemorative plaque commemorates his
unusually courageous intervention, given the political situation at
the time. Since 1993 - in memory of this crime - the advanced
training facility of the Schleswig-Holstein State Police has been
called the "Wilhelm Krützfeld State Police School".
There is
a "historical" black and white photo of the 1938 attempt to destroy
the synagogue The New Synagogue in Flames. Decades later, a more
detailed examination of the photograph and historical research led
Heinz Knobloch to the conclusion that the synagogue in the photo did
not correspond to its actual condition in 1938. The photo had
apparently been heavily retouched in the post-war period.
After the effects of the fire had been eliminated, the New Synagogue
could be used for services again from April 1939. The dome had to be
painted over with camouflage paint because of the threat of Allied
air raids. After a last service in the small prayer room on January
14, 1943, the Wehrmacht took over the building and set up a uniform
store here. At the beginning of the so-called Battle of Berlin by
the British Bomber Command, the synagogue suffered severe damage on
the night of November 23, 1943. Further damage was done to the
structure when the ruins were used as a supplier of building
materials after the war.
After the end of the war, the few
surviving Jews in the city founded a new Jewish community based in
the administration building of the synagogue on Oranienburger
Strasse. The initial aim was to create suitable conditions for
Jewish life in Berlin again and, on the other hand, to prepare for
emigration for those who did not want to stay. In the summer of
1958, damaged parts of the building were completely removed because
of the risk of collapse and on the grounds that reconstruction was
not possible. Only the building substance on the street remained -
as a memorial against war and fascism.
Today, regular
services are held under the direction of Rabbi Gesa Ederberg and
Cantor Avitall Gerstetter.
Anti-Semitic incident on October 4, 2019
On October 4, 2019, there
was another attack on the New Synagogue. A 23-year-old Syrian had
climbed over a barrier shouting "Allahu akbar" ("Allah is great") and
ran towards the property security staff with a knife. Nobody got hurt.
After investigations, the man was released. Josef Schuster spoke of a
"failure" and "negligent" behavior of the Berlin public prosecutor's
office.
Story
After there had even been a
tendency to demolish the entire building and erect a memorial stone in
its place, it was not until 1988 that the "New Synagogue Berlin -
Centrum Judaicum Foundation" was founded in connection with
commemorations to mark the 50th anniversary of the pogrom night To
rebuild a new synagogue and create a center for the care and
preservation of Jewish culture.
Part of the new climate was that
the GDR employed the American rabbi Isaac Neuman from September 1987 to
May 1988 to support community life. He was entitled to a company car and
apartment as well as a domestic worker who worked for the MfS. On
November 10, 1988, a symbolic laying of the foundation stone for the
reconstruction of the ruins took place. The nature of the restoration
had previously been the subject of controversy. A full restoration to
the original state was discarded - it could have been misconstrued as an
attempt to repress and possibly forget the sufferings of the past.
However, the intention was to have a memorial for permanent remembrance
at the same time as the building.
So it was decided to make both
visible - the once magnificent architecture and the violent destruction.
The representative street front with the main dome was reconstructed
true to the original. A permanent exhibition provides information about
Jewish life in Berlin. Some architectural fragments and rediscovered
parts of the interior are also on display. On the open space deep in the
property, stones mark the extensive ground plan of what used to be the
main synagogue. The renovation work was completed in 1993. The restored
building, protected against current threats by extensive security
measures, was handed over to the foundation on December 16, 1994 and
opened on May 7, 1995. Overall, it was not rededicated as a synagogue,
but contains a small prayer and prayer room. In the immediate vicinity
are Jewish community facilities, restaurants, cafés and the Jewish
Gallery.
Exhibitions
Since 1995, the permanent exhibition of
the Centrum Judaicum and special exhibitions have been shown in the
former administration building of the synagogue. First, the exhibition
showed a wide range of Judaica, including manuscripts, printed matter
and sacred objects, and presented the history of the Jews in Berlin and
Prussia. The opening of the Jewish Museum Berlin in 2001 made it
possible to relieve the content of the exhibition and the history of the
New Synagogue and its congregation. The permanent exhibition was revised
and reopened in a new form in 2018.
2011 took place under the
title Good Business. Art trade in Berlin 1933-1945 an exhibition in
Berlin took place in the Active Museum in the Centrum Judaicum and in
the Berlin State Archive. At the same time, it was "a reminder to
clarify the [...] still open property questions due to 'cultural
property confiscated as a result of persecution' [...]". Among other
things, the exhibition dealt with the Aryanization of Franz
Catzenstein's Matthiesen Gallery, but also showed that others had also
suffered from the terror of the Nazi regime.