Obj. ID: 51188
Memorials First Memorial at the Site of Synagogue in Memmingen, Germany, 1960s, 2012
To the main object: New Synagogue in Memmingen, Germany
Memorial Name
No official name
What is Comemmorated?
The Synagogue destroyed on Kristallnacht
Description
This memorial commemorates the destroyed synagogue building. It is a tall stele, made of a thin metal (bronze?) sheet with inscriptions, and upon which is affixed a second bronze panel.
On the top part of the main “background” sheet is inscribed the opening words of the “Ma Tovu” prayer in German, and a sentence identifying this as the site of the synagogue destroyed on November 8-9, 1938.
Affixed beneath this – in a central position – is a panel with a realistic representation in relief of the destroyed synagogue.
Beneath this, inscribed on the main “background” sheet is a plan of the destroyed building.
Inscriptions
German
Wie schön sind deine zelte, Jacob
Wie schön seine wohnstäten, Israel
(Numer 24,5)
Hier stand die Memminger synagoge
1909 erbaut
1938 in der Reichspogromnacht zerstö
Synagogue 1909-1938
Translation: How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel (Numbers 24:5) [translation from JPS 2006] / Here was the Memminger synagogue built in 1909 destroyed in the Reichspogrom night 1938 / Synagogue 1908-1938
6 image(s)
sub-set tree:
-Height: 1.83 meters
-Width: 1.0 meters
Central Plaque:
-Height: 0.47 meters
-Width: 0.50 meters
A new synagogue of Memmingen was dedicated on a prominent site in 1909 and was destroyed on Kristallnacht (November 8-9, 1938). In the spring of 1942, the remaining Jews of Memmengen were deported, most to their deaths.
After World War II, the plot was transferred to the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO). In 1951, JRSO sold the plot to the company "Lech-Elektrizitätswerken" (LEW) which erected an office building on the plot in the early 1960s. The LEW building had a plaque with a relief depicting the synagogue and a memorial dedicated to the synagogue was installed near the LEW building.
The LEW building was demolished in 2012 and a new building was erected on the plot. The plaque with the relief was preserved and reused in this monument as a central relief.
"Memmingen," Alemannia Judaica, https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/memmingen_synagoge.htm#Zur%20Geschichte%20der%20j%C3%BCdischen%20Gemeinde (accessed September 6, 2023)