New Synagogue (Darmstadt)

New Synagogue
German: Neue Synagoge
The Torah ark, stained glass windows and synagogue dome
New Synagogue (Darmstadt) is located in Hesse
New Synagogue (Darmstadt)
Location of the synagogue in Hessen
Religion
AffiliationOrthodox Judaism
RiteNusach Ashkenaz
Synagogue
StatusActive
Design features
Stained-glass windows by Brian Clarke
Location
LocationWilhelm-Glässing-Straße 26, Darmstadt, Hessen
CountryGermany
Coordinates49°52′03″N 8°39′17″E / 49.8675°N 8.65467°E / 49.8675; 8.65467
Architecture
ArchitectAlfred Jacoby
TypeSynagogue architecture
StylePostmodern
Completed1988
Specifications
Capacity200 worshippers
DomeThree
MaterialsStone; concrete
Website
jg-darmstadt.de (in German)
[1][2][3][4][5]

The New Synagogue (German: Neue Synagoge) is a Jewish congregation, synagogue, community centre, and Jewish museum (German: Jüdische Gemeinde), located in Darmstadt, in the state of Hessen, Germany.[6]

History

Inaugurated on in 1988, the synagogue was built as part of a citizens’ initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht.[7] Known also as the ‘Holocaust Memorial Synagogue’, the architectural complex was designed to fulfil the needs of the city's Jewish population, who had been without a place of worship since the 1938 pogrom when Darmstadt's three synagogues were destroyed.[8] The religious and cultural complex is located on the site of the city's former Gestapo headquarters.[9]

The cultural complex is the site of the local museum of Jewish history and culture, Museum der Jüdischen Gemeinde Darmstadt.

The synagogue is egalitarian and has a number of members who are LGBTQ Jews, converts, or who are in interfaith marriages. Under the leadership of Rabbi Gesa Ederberg, the synagogue's mechitza was removed.[10]

Architecture

The building was designed by Alfred Jacoby in the Postmodernist style, and features stained glass windows designed by British architectural artist Brian Clarke.[1] Clarke designed five windows on the north and south walls respectively, two windows flanking the Torah shrine on the east wall, and a glass dome above the shrine. The colour scheme carries a symbolic meaning: blue on the south side represented hope; red on the north, suffering; and green on the east, a balancing forces.[11]

The first "newly constructed synagogue in the postwar period to recall the traditional form of a central, domed building", the design marked the start of Jacoby's development of a distinct modern Jewish religious architectural vernacular.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Post-WWII Synagogue in Darmstadt". Historic synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  2. ↑ Schwartz, Hans-Peter (1988). Die Architektur Der Synagoge (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Deutsches Architekturmuseum.
  3. ↑ Geller, Jay; Morris, Leslie, eds. (September 21, 2016). "Between Memory and Normalcy". Three-Way Street: Jews, Germans, and the Transnational. University of Michigan Press. p. 289. ISBN 9780472130122.
  4. ↑ Necker, Sylvia (June 1, 2017). "Synagogues at the Intersection of Architecture, Town, and Imagination". In Lässig, Simone; Rürup, Miriam (eds.). Space and Spatiality in Modern German-Jewish History: Volume 8 of New German Historical Perspectives (First ed.). Berghahn Books. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-78533-554-9.
  5. ↑ Alicke, Klaus-Diete (November 17, 2008). "Darmstadt (Hesse)". Lexikon: Der Jüdischer Gemeinden im deutschen Sprachraum (in German) (First ed.). Gütersloher Verlagshaus. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  6. ↑ Aeppel, Timothy. "Facing shadows of the past: Germans mark Jewish persecution". The Christian Science Monitor.
  7. ↑ "Wer ein Haus baut, der will Bleiben". Darmstädter Echo. Echo Zeitungen GmbH. November 10, 2008.
  8. ↑ Hein, Rainer (November 10, 2013). "Neue Synagoge in Darmstadt: Zeichen des Glauben, der Versöhnung und Zuversicht". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Beuth Verlag GmbH. ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  9. ↑ Reinhold-Postina, Eva (1988). Neumann, Moritz (ed.). Das Darmstädter Synagogenbuch : eine Dokumentation zur Synagogen-Einweihung am 9. November 1988 : im Auftrag des Magistrats der Stadt Darmstadt und der Jüdischen Gemeinde Darmstadt (in German). Darmstadt: E. Roether Verlag. OCLC 27644657.
  10. ↑ "A Revived Congregation's New Vision Has Old Roots". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  11. ↑ Beeh-Lustenberger, Suzanne, ed. (1998). Brian Clarke: Malerei und Farbfenster 1977-1988. Hessisches Landesmusuem. p. 31. ISBN 9783926527134.
  12. ↑ Singer, David, ed. (1996). "Federal Republic of Germany: Synagogue boom". American Jewish Year Book. 96. VNR AG: 292.

Further reading

  • Frenzel, Martin (2008). "Eine Zierde unserer Stadt": Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft der Liberalen Synagoge Darmstadt. Darmstadt: Justus von Liebig Verlag.
  • "Die Bürgerschaft gibt der jüdischen Gemeinde eine Synagoge zurück": Einweihung der Synagoge in Darmstadt 9. November 1988:Ansprachen. (1989). Germany: Magistrat der Stadt Darmstadt, Presse und Informationsamt.

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