Ehemalige Synagoge Haigerloch

Description

In the townscape of Haigerloch the Haigerloch Synagogue now houses a museum and a memorial that recall the former Jewish communal life in Hohenzollern.

Religious rights for Jews in Haigerloch have been documented since the 1595 letter of protection; an earlier prayer room is said to have been located in a private house in the Jewish quarter Haag in the upper town, though its exact location is unknown. The construction of the present synagogue dates to a petition from 1782, which was approved in return for the payment of a one-time fee or an annual ground rent. The dedication took place on 30 May 1783. Due to population growth the building was enlarged in 1839–1840; by lengthening the structure and adding new galleries seating for 294 people was created. The remodeling costs amounted to 1,758 Gulden 47 Kreuzer; major parts of the fittings were financed by donations, and the Torah scroll was purchased with a lottery win.

In 1929/30 the synagogue was thoroughly renovated and was re-dedicated on 21 September 1930. In the night and morning of 10 November 1938 the building was severely damaged in the course of the November pogroms: the interior and ritual objects were destroyed, windows were smashed and doors forced open; a planned burning was prevented by local authorities. The Torah scroll survived the destruction because it had been hidden privately.

Rebuilding was prohibited by police order; in 1939 the synagogue, the associated mikveh and the grounds were sold to the town at a heavily reduced price, with a restriction that they be used as a gymnasium. Alterations were carried out during the war years; in 1944 the building served as storage space, and in April 1945 the roof was severely damaged by shellfire.

After the end of the war criminal proceedings led to convictions for the November pogroms. A restitution proceeding in 1949 ended in a settlement; the property was legally returned in exchange for payment of an amount toward maintenance costs. In 1951 the religious community sold the building to private individuals. In the following decades it lost its synagogal appearance through alterations and was used, among other things, as a cinema, a grocery market and a warehouse.

At the initiative of the Gesprächskreis, founded in 1988, the city succeeded in repurchasing the property in 1999. Between 2001 and 2003 the house was redesigned and fitted out as a museum. On 13 June 2004 the permanent exhibition Spurensicherung – Jüdisches Leben in Hohenzollern, conceived and produced by the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg, opened; it commemorates Jewish history in Haigerloch, Hechingen and Dettensee with original objects and eyewitness interviews.