{"id":225,"date":"2025-01-07T17:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aufbruch-am-ufer.simonmista.de\/?page_id=225"},"modified":"2025-01-17T09:33:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T08:33:44","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/historie\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The synagogue and the community center are linked to over 100 years of eventful Jewish history in Kreuzberg: from the first consecration in 1916, to the destruction during the Shoah and the Second World War, to the reoccupation and the planned reconstruction.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\"Main<\/div>
Main hall and side wing of the historic synagogue on Kottbusser Ufer<\/figcaption>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

History of the synagogue and the community center<\/h2>\n\t
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The Fraenkelufer Synagogue, designed by Alexander Beer, was inaugurated in 1916 and was one of the largest synagogues in Berlin, with space for over 1,700 people in the main hall and a total of over 2,000 seats. Even then, it was planned as a kind of community center with a large prayer hall, a weekday synagogue, a hall for youth services, a modern permanent tabernacle, a wedding hall and meeting and living rooms. This was supplemented by offices and rooms for community administration and education. In 1925, the Jewish community opened a kindergarten and after-school care center on the site, and later also a vacation playground.<\/p>\n

During the November pogroms of 1938, the main part of the historic building was severely damaged. The subsequent misappropriation - use as a warehouse and as a shelter for military vehicles - with the associated lack of maintenance and care and finally bombing at the end of the Second World War meant that the ruins of the main building had to be demolished in 1956, especially as the reconstruction of such a large house of prayer for around 2,000 worshippers did not make sense for the almost completely destroyed congregation.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

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\"New<\/div>
New Year's service on Fraenkelufer, Rosh haShana 1945<\/figcaption>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

A new beginning after the Shoah<\/h2>\n\t
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Only the side wing with the youth synagogue remained largely intact and could be used again for the Jewish New Year (Rosh haShana) in September 1945. Over 200 survivors of the Shoah and around 30 American soldiers celebrated the service together in the side wing. This made the Fraenkelufer Synagogue one of the first synagogues in Berlin where prayers could be held again after the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

This event was documented by the famous photographer Robert Capa, whose photos of the celebration were subsequently published in the American Life magazine. The fact that this was even possible was thanks to the Jewish US officer Harry Nowalsky, who was housed opposite the synagogue. He pulled out all the stops to restore the side building so that the New Year's service could take place. One of Nowalsky's granddaughters, Jessica Greenberg, is a board member of the American support association \"US Friends of Fraenkelufer\"<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

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\"View<\/div>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Immigration and growth<\/h2>\n\t
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The side wing was officially reopened as the Fraenkelufer Synagogue after a thorough renovation from 1956-1958 and has been used for services ever since. After the large waves of Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, the development of the congregation stagnated in the 2000s. In the last ten years, Berlin's population structure has changed considerably. A remarkable internationalization characterizes the cityscape, especially in the Kreuzberg district. While many of the long-established worshippers remain loyal to the synagogue, in recent years an increasing number of young people and families, especially from North and South America, Australia, Europe and Israel, have found a community for themselves on Fraenkelufer. After more than a hundred years of turbulent history, Fraenkelufer is once again a center of Jewish life in Kreuzberg.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The synagogue and the community center are linked to over 100 years of eventful Jewish history in Kreuzberg: from the first consecration in 1916, to the destruction during the Shoah and World War II, to the reoccupation and the planned reconstruction. Departure on the shore - Departure on the shore - Departure on the shore - Departure on the shore ...","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-225","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578,"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/225\/revisions\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aufbruch-am-ufer.berlin\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}