Samuel Lampel

Samuel Lampel grew up in a foster family in Berlin’s Scheunenviertel, a neighbourhood predominantly inhabited by Jews from Eastern Europe. A charitable organisation enabled him to study at the Israelitische Erziehungsanstalt Ahlem near Hanover. At the age of seventeen, he began his training at the Jewish teacher-training college, and in 1904 he took up his first post as a teacher in Ahlem. At the school, he conducted the choir and found his calling there.

In April 1914, he moved to the Berlin University of the Arts. That same autumn, he became assistant cantor in Leipzig, and shortly afterwards cantor at the Great Community Synagogue on Gottschedstraße. In 1920 he was appointed principal cantor, and finally chief cantor in 1927. In this role, he shaped the musical programme of the congregation’s services. In doing so, he also sought to act as a mediator. The community synagogue was liberal in orientation, which meant that Lampel was able to use an organ there and allow various choirs – some of which included non-Jewish members – to perform. This met with opposition, particularly from the Orthodox members, who were gaining increasing influence within the community. At the same time, he taught at the Higher Israelite School in Leipzig, founded in 1912 by Ephraim Carlebach.

Lampel’s stated aim was to give non-Jewish residents of Leipzig access to Jewish liturgical music. Together with the long-standing choir director Barnet Licht (1874–1951), he offers guided tours of the synagogue and lectures. However, he is best known for his synagogue concerts, in which he combines Jewish liturgical music with classics by Beethoven, Bach and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Lampel is also a pioneer in the use of modern media and produces radio programmes featuring synagogue music.

His compositions remain popular to this day. In particular, the Leipzig Synagogue Choir, founded in 1962 by the then cantor Werner Sander, continues to honour his legacy.

Lampel’s place of work, the Great Community Synagogue, was destroyed – like almost all the other synagogues in Leipzig – during the November pogrom of 1938. He subsequently served as cantor at the Brodyer Synagogue on Keilstraße – which had been incorporated into a residential building and was therefore spared – and soon also acted as a stand-in rabbi.

Lampel and his wife Rosa (1882–1942) were later forced to move from their flat at 23 Tschaikowskistraße to a compulsory residence (‘Judenhaus’) at 30 Leibnizstraße. Their son, Werner Lampel (1919–1992), managed to flee to Great Britain in 1939.

On 13 July 1942, Rosa and Samuel Lampel were deported to Auschwitz along with a total of around 1,000 people from all over Germany. Both were presumably murdered a few days after their arrival.

Samuel Lampel’s life continues to inspire people, particularly in Leipzig. In 1992, a street in Leipzig-Mockau was named after him. Since 2014, two Stolpersteine commemorate Rosa and Samuel Lampel in front of their last home on Tschaikowskistraße; since 2023, a commemorative plaque there has also provided information about Samuel Lampel. The Leipzig Synagogue Choir is releasing a CD in 2023 featuring Lampel’s compositions Evening Prayer for Shabbat.

Pupils at the F.-A.-Brockhaus Grammar School in Leipzig will be working on an extensive exhibition on Samuel Lampel. Samuel-Lampel-Straße, which runs alongside the school, had piqued their curiosity. The exhibition will be on display in the summer of 2026 at the Leipzig School Museum. The project will be awarded Second Place in the 2026 Leo Trepp Pupils’ Prize.