Plauen Synagogue

On 6 April 1930, the Jewish community in Plauen inaugurated its new synagogue and community centre. They wanted to look to the future with hope and self-confidence. However, the timing and location may seem surprising at first, as Saxony was an early centre for the National Socialists, who wanted to conquer today's Free State from Plauen. The Plauen lace manufacturer Martin Mutschmann, a radical anti-Semite and early NSDAP member, became Gauleiter in 1925 and remained so until the end of the war.
Even before the First World War, the city's textile industry was in crisis. Jewish traders from Eastern Europe in particular, who offered cheaper imported or reconditioned goods, were blamed for this. In August 1914, in the course of mobilisation, numerous Plauen businesses owned by Jewish entrepreneurs were attacked. This anti-Semitic hostility persisted and Jewish businesses were attacked again in the 1920s. The Jewish community, on the other hand, tried to assert itself confidently in the city. Its long-standing chairman, the lawyer Dr Isidor Goldberg, became a member of the city council in 1919. In 1929, the community of around 800 members finally decided to build a prestigious new building to house the community centre and synagogue.

The Augsburg architect Fritz Landauer was commissioned with the new building. Landauer had previously built the synagogue in his home town, among other things. There, he relied on a combination of Art Nouveau elements and forms of orientalising architecture, continuing a 19th century building tradition. The synagogues built during this period can be divided into two larger groups: the orientalising, neo-Islamic architecture was intended to set the synagogues apart from Christian sacred buildings and the secular buildings of most cities in order to create their own, immediately recognisable aspect in the cityscape (such as the large community synagogue in Leipzig, in Kaiserslautern oder Nürnberg). In some cases, for example in the Kingdom of Bavaria, this style was also prescribed in order to externalise synagogues - and thus also Jews - as foreign. The second group can be described as a neo-Romanesque style, which was chosen to consciously emphasise the affiliation of German Jewry to the German building tradition and thus to German culture and nation. These synagogues, such as the old main synagogue in Munich, built a recognisable bridge to nationally known and style-defining buildings, such as the cathedral in Speyer.

Landauer chose a different approach. Due to increasing secularisation, the needs of modern community life had shifted. Aspects such as welfare or cultural programmes were now more prominent, meaning that other functional spaces became important alongside a prayer room. Landauer modelled the façade design on the New Objectivity style. Clear forms without decorative elements characterise the building. The façade is broken up by a wide band of windows on the north side, which let daylight into the prayer room behind it. Without the Star of David in the upper corner, nothing on the outside would have suggested a religious building.

The centrepiece of the building was nevertheless the prayer room. In retrospect, Landauer emphasised that the room had to "make the visitor's soul resonate and lead to devotion. The room itself must become a sacred symbol." He achieved this effect primarily through the elaborate design of the east wall. As synagogues are always orientated towards the east - towards Jerusalem - the east wall is of central importance. The Torah is kept there, hidden behind a curtain. In earlier synagogue buildings, the reading desk, the Bima, from which the Torah is read, was often placed in the centre of the prayer room. In Plauen and other new buildings, the bima was moved close to the Torah shrine, thus increasing the importance of the east wall. The green-grey plastered wall, which was now the focus of prayers, was decorated with numerous symbols, illustrations and Torah quotations carved into the coloured plaster using the sgraffito technique. These included references to Jewish holidays such as Sukkot and Hanukkah or the story of creation. The Munich artist Alois Gruber created these illustrations based on a design by the rabbi Leo Baerwald. The historian Michael Brenner commented that this design reflected a widespread "longing for authenticity" at the time. This meant a culturally understood Zionism, as also represented by Salman Schocken. The founding of a Jewish state was not necessarily at the centre of these activities, but rather a return to Jewish traditions and culture. This was intended to strengthen and consolidate the Jewish identity, but this did not mean that a German identity was abandoned. Instead, Landauer created an architectural symbiosis of both identities and points of reference in the fusion of modern architecture and cultural Zionist interior design. Thanks to a 3D reconstruction by TU Darmstadt, it is now possible to experience this space again digitally.

On the night of 10 November, SA members broke into the building and set fire to it. The interior was completely burnt out. Previously, shops belonging to Jewish owners had been destroyed and looted, and private homes were also broken into and the furnishings vandalised. The synagogue initially remained standing after the fire, as it had been built with a solid steel frame and concrete. However, as in other towns, the demolition of the remaining building structure began quickly afterwards in Plauen. The pogrom took place before the eyes and often with the great approval of the population, who also took part in the looting. A photo shows the synagogue still smoking on the morning of 10 November. Numerous passers-by and onlookers stood in front of the building and watched the destruction. At the same time, Jewish youths and adult men were deported to Buchenwald.
After the synagogue was demolished, the site initially stood empty and was sold to the Adventist Church in 1940. The congregation initially built a wooden house of prayer there. In the 1950s, the community centre, which still stands today, was built. It is now certain that a wall on the site belonged to the former synagogue. In a donation campaign, the town of Plauen was able to raise enough money to protect and preserve this wall. In the future, a memorial and learning centre is to be built on the site.