Obj. ID: 43779
Jewish Architecture Holocaust memorial plaque on the synagogue site in Braunschweig, Germany, 1978
To the main object: Synagogue in Braunschweig, Germany, Germany
What/Who is commemorated?
The destroyed synagogue and the Jews of Braunschweig killed in the Holocaust.
Description
The rectangular plaque is attached to the exterior wall of the synagogue. It is decorated with Magen David and inscribed in German and Hebrew.
Inscriptions
The plaque in inscribed in German and Hebrew.
Hier stand die im Jahre 1875 einge-
weihte Synagoge der Jüdischen
Gemeinde zu Braunschweig. Sie
wurde 1940 mutwillig zerstört.
Dummheit und Unmenschlichkeit
haben zunichte gemacht, was
Glaube, Liebe, Weisheit schu-
fen * Wir gedenken der
Juden, die sich hier einst ver-
Sammelten und in den Jahren
1933-1945 ermordet, verschleppt,
gedemütigt und ihrer Menschen-
würde beraubt wurden.***
Translation: Here stood the 1875 consecrated synagogue of the Jewish Community of Braunschweig. It was wantonly destroyed in 1940. Stupidity and inhumanity have destroyed what faith, love, wisdom created / We commemorate the Jews who once gathered here and in 1933-1945 were murdered, deported, humiliated, and deprived of their human dignity.
The inscription in the middle part of the plaque cites Job in Hebrew and German:
הלא-בבטן עשני עשהו
ויכוננו ברחם אחד
Hat nicht der mich erschuf auch
ihn erschaffen und einer uns
im Mutterschoss bereitet? Hiob 31/15
Translation: Did not He who made me in my mother’s belly make him? Did not One form us both in the womb? Job 31:15
The inscription in German at the bottom of the plaque in smaller letters reads:
Gestiftet von Bürgern Braunschweigs anlässlich der
100jährigen Wiederkehr der Einweihung der Synagoge.
Translation: Donated by citizens of Brunswick on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the synagogue.
Commisioned by
sponsored by citizens of Braunschweig; owned and maintained by the Jewish community of Braunschweig
3 image(s)
sub-set tree:
In place of the synagogue, which was destroyed in 1938 and demolished in 1940, a bunker was built immediately after the demolition and still exists today.
In 1976, some Braunschweig citizens, first and foremost the engineer Karl Schönfeld supported by the Braunschweig provosts, have taken the initiative for a memorial plaque in memory of the destroyed synagogue. The text was written by Schönfeld, the Hebrew text by the later chairman of the Jewish community Gábor Lengyel. On September 23, 1978, the plaque attached to the bunker facade was unveiled by the State Rabbi Dr. Nathan Peter Levinsohn (Heidelberg) and Dr. Leon Feiler, Chairman of the Association of Jewish Communities in Lower Saxony. Since then, the memorial events commemorating the Pogrom Night have been held here.
Schmidt-Czaia, Bettina. “Wenn man ein Haus baut, will man bleiben.” Die Geschichte der Jüdischen Gemeinde Braunschweig nach 1945 (Braunschweig: Stadtarchiv, 2005), pp. 63-64.