Obj. ID: 58382 Holocaust Memorial at the Synagogue Site in Büren, Germany, 1988, 2017
Memorial Name
No official name
Who/What is Commemorated?
destroyed synagogue and the Jews deported from Büren
Description:
The memorial consists of:
- a sandstone wall (approx. 3 m wide and 2.30 m high) with a Z-shaped floor plan, which tapers irregularly toward the front and back with a short section of wall. The synagogue was made from the same sandstone (Weiner Sandstein).
- A tall rectangular bronze plaque (69 x 129 cm) is located off-center, slightly to the right of the wall. At the top, it shows the synagogue facade framed by a semicircular arch, and below it, the text in serif font with bold letters in uppercase. A wide crack runs from the top almost to the middle of the plaque through the synagogue image and part of the text. At the bottom of the plaque, there is a menorah, and on either side, a flowering branch protruding from the side of the plaque. In thin letters, "Büren 1988" and the initials of the artists are written at the bottom.
- To the left of the wall, two panels in metal frames were later erected in memory of the deported Jewish families from Büren. The left panel reports on the deportation from the town, while the right panel lists the names of the 68 deported Jews, their dates of birth, and information about their fate.
Inscriptions:
In German:
Hier stand von 1862 bis 1938
die Synagoge
der
jüdischen Kultusgemeinde
Am 10-XI-1938, während der
Judenverfolgung
in Deutschland wurde
unter vielen anderen
diese Synagoge
niedergebrannt.
Translation: The synagogue of the Jewish community stood here from 1862 to 1938. On November 10, 1938, during the persecution of Jews in Germany, this synagogue – among many others – was burned down.
Commissioned by
City of Büren (memorial, 1988), Heimatverein Büren e.V. (information plaques, 2017)
plaque: metal, bronze
plaque: 69 x 129 cm, situated 70 cm above the ground
Lower right of the plaque: E.S. R.P. in thin cursive writing
Elzbieta Szczodrowska and Robert Peplinski, an artist couple from Poland. Elżbieta Szczodrowska-Peplińska (born September 5, 1921, in Sopot) was a sculptor from Gdańsk. Her husband, Robert Pepliński (1941–2015), was a sculptor. In the city of Büren, they created five bronze objects, including the synagogue memorial.
The inscription gives a wrong date for the erection of the synagogue: 1862, although the inauguration took place already on August 3, 1860 (see Pracht, 1998, p. 457).
In 1983, the local historian submitted a request to the city council to erect a memorial stone on the site of the destroyed synagogue. The synagogue had probably been demolished after the war and the site leveled. Since 1954—and to this day—there has been a parking lot here. The city council passed the resolution in 1988. The bronze memorial plaque was designed by the Polish artist couple Elżbieta Szczodrowska-Peplińska and Robert Pepliński, who later created four other objects in Büren, including a memorial to the victims of the two world wars in 1994, which resembles the synagogue memorial (e.g., both show a crack, flowers).
In November 2017, the local historic society (Heimatverein Büren e.V.) commissioned two tables that were erected to the left of the wall. Their text tells about the deportation of the last twelve Jews from Büren, and 68 names are on the right table.
Brade, Anna Christine et al, Ich dachte, sie wären tot. NS-Mahnmale und Erinnerungsprozesse in Ostwestfalen-Lippe (Herford: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 1997), pp. 38f, 55.
"Büren (Nordrhein-Westfalen),"
Aus der Geschichte der jüdischen Gemeinden im deutschen Sprachraum, https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/a-b/498-bueren-nordrhein-westfalen.
Pracht, Elfi, Jüdisches Kulturerbe in Nordrhein-Westfalen, vol. III (Regierungsbezirk Detmold) (Cologne: Bachem, 1998), pp. 458, 482f.
Stadtmarketing Büren, Büren Historie. Auf den Spuren jüdischen Lebens (Büren, 2021)