By Dr. Howard M. Berlin
Essen’s Jewish population prior to World War II was quite small. Having heard that its synagogue (Alle Synagoge Essen as it is known) was one of the most beautiful ever built in Germany, I took the 20-mile train ride from Dusseldorf to see it.
The massive stone building of the synagogue was finished in 1913 and was the largest in Germany. It was 230 feet from front to back, 98 feet wide, and had an octagonal dome that reached a height of 112 feet. Unlike most of Germany’s synagogues that were completely destroyed by the Kristallnacht pogrom on the night of November 9, 1938, only the interior of Essen’s synagogue was destroyed. Following the war, the synagogue remained unused until 1976 when renovations were started. It was dedicated in 1980 on the 42nd anniversary of Kristallnacht as a municipal museum of Essen’s Jewish culture and the history of its persecution and resistance under the Nazis.
In front there is a stone memorial to the more than 2,500 of Essen’s Jews exterminated by the Nazis from 1939 to 1945. The front entrance consists of three massive double doors. Two pairs contain symbols each representing six Tribes of Israel. The third pair contains six symbols representative of Judaism and the Land of Israel.
Inside the foyer, before entering the original sanctuary area that now serves as the museum, there is a scale model of what the original synagogue looked like, inside and out. Once inside the museum area, one first sees Essen’s oldest known headstone with Hebrew inscriptions dating back to 1731. This is followed by a short history of Essen’s Jews along with preserved examples of ceremonial religious objects: siddur, shofar, torah with mantle, breastplate, pointer, and finials.
The exhibits then deal with the emancipation and assimilation of Germany’s Jews, the genesis of Judaism’s Reform branch of the late 1800’s. This is followed by exhibits of the emigration and expulsion of Jews from Germany from an upsurge in anti-Semitism. With the enactment of the infamous Nuremburg Laws of September 15, 1935, Jews were now considered inferior, stripped of political rights. segregated, and every aspect of their conduct was defined and regulated. Photographs, newspapers, and posters document examples of anti-Semitic screeds that were commonplace, such as: Der Vater der Juden is der Teufel, translated: “The father of the Jews is the devil.” A simple park bench had the words: Nur für Arien: “Only for Aryan.” Whether it contained the German Jude, French Juif, Dutch Jood, Polish yd. Hungarian Zsido, or Czech Žid, the hated yellow Star of David publicly signified that the wearer was a Jew.
Much of the information of the exhibits is in German only with sporadic English translations. Fortunately, the impact of the exhibits is such that no explanations are necessary.
This museum had one “exhibit” I had never seen before in the many Jewish museums I’ve visited here and abroad. In the floor, covered by protective clear glass, are sealed charred parchment fragments of a torah scroll— remains of Kristallnacht. Also, there was an amazing photograph that showed the Alte Synagoge in flames on that very night.
Without a functioning synagogue since the war, Essen’s small Jewish community in 1959 opened a Jewish Community Center, whose synagogue has a dome with very unusual acoustics (a whisper anywhere in the sanctuary can be heard throughout the building!). I suppose this feature was to keep people from gossiping during services.
Located at 29 Steeler Strasse, Essen’s Alte Synagoge is admission free although there is a pishka box for donations. The Jewish Community Center is located at 46 Sedanstrasse and the Jewish cemetery is at 11 Mathilde-Kaiser Strasse.
Editor’s note: The author lives in Wilmington. Since his retirement from teaching, he is now a columnist for WoldWide Coins and writes about his museum visits around the world.
This article first appeared in The Jewish Voice on December 2, 2007.
