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English booklet
5773. A new Synagogue for Ulm
Special exhibition in the Museum of Ulm
2nd December 2012 until 20th May 2013
Contents
5773. A new synagogue for Ulm. The exhibition ................................................................ 3
The Jewish community in the Middle Ages ........................................................................ 3
Der Judenhof – The Jewish Courtyard .................................................................................... 5
The Jewish Cemetery .............................................................................................................. 5
Hebrew Book Art for Clients from Ulm .................................................................................. 6
Emancipation and Liberalization ....................................................................................... 6
The Synagogue of the 19th Century ........................................................................................ 8
Nazi Era and the Holocaust ............................................................................................... 8
Stagnation and New Beginning 1945 – 2012 .................................................................... 10
The Synagogue – Form and Function ............................................................................... 11
The Equipment of the Synagogue and the Jewish Worship ................................................. 12
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5773. A new synagogue for Ulm. The exhibition
On 2nd December we celebrate the inauguration of the new synagogue on the historic
place “Weinhof”. Almost 75 years after the destruction of the old synagogue there will
be a new place for about 450 members of the Jewish community within the center of
the city. The 17m tall cube contains a praying hall, a community hall, a youth room, a
kindergarten and a mikvah (a ritual bath).
The architecture is based on the plans of an architect from Cologne, Susanne Gross.
Main emphasis of the facade is the so called “Jerusalem-window” – a vertical surface of
the southeastern wall, consisting of many Stars of David. Unlike the historic synagogue,
which was built in 1873 and where the main body was integrated to northern facade
axis, the cube accentuates a compact solitaire within the domestic architecture and the
“Schwörhaus” and enriches the “Weinhof” with its distinctive style.
The exhibition accompanies the joyful event of the inauguration with a historic and
present overview of the Jewish life in Ulm. Main objects are the architecture and the
functions of the new synagogue. Numerous religious objects from the prestigious Gross
Family Collection Tel Aviv provide insights into Jewish life and its festivals.
The project was developed with the involvement of the educator and religious
researcher Christof Maihoefer and in cooperation with the House of City History – City
Archive Ulm, the Documentation Center Oberer Kuhberg, the Israelite Community of
Württemberg in Stuttgart, the Evangelical Church of the city of Ulm/Münster Building
Authority, the Museum of the History of Christians and Jews from Laupheim, the
company protel film and media, the departments of city development, construction and
environment and central services/public relations and representation, the Gross Family
Collection Tel Aviv, Rabbi Shneur Trebnik from Ulm, private lenders, talk and interview
partners of the Jewish community and all those colleagues involved in the events.
The exhibition is under the patronage of IRG Württemberg, Ulm Community Foundation
and the Friends of the Museum of Ulm. Main focus is to make a contribution to the
inter-religious dialogue and is aimed at both the general public and the members of the
new Jewish community.
The Jewish community in the Middle Ages
First documented evidence of the existence of a Jewish community in Ulm leads to the
year 1241: In this year, the Jews of Ulm had to pay to the king the imperial taxes of
about 6 Marks. The small amount – the total taxes of the Jewish community from
Worms amounted to 130 marks in the same year – suggests a fairly small group of
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people. In the following decades the size and wealth of the community of Ulm were
increasing considerably – and with them the amount of taxes.
Over time, all the Jews were known as "chamber servants" and they were under the
protection of the king, but they had to pay him special levies.
In Ulm, Jews and Christians didn´t have equal rights in all areas. In juridical issues the city
charter granted the Jewish community a special status: legal affairs between Jews were
the responsibility of the Jewish community; only disputes between Jews and Christians
were handled by the city court. Although Jews could acquire a restricted citizenship,
they remained barred from a membership in the guilds. Nevertheless, they could
practice handcrafts and activities which were necessary for the everyday life and the
observance of religious laws in the community.
Sometimes they could even find buyers of their products and services within the
Christian citizens. Many Jews worked as small traders or in some money and pawn
shops. It was forbidden to take interest among Christian credit grantors or the interest
rates were at least limited to a certain level by the municipal authorities of Ulm. The
Jewish money trading benefitted, at least temporarily, from legal privileges, created by
city authorities. By their credit lending, Jews from Ulm made a significant contribution to
the political and economic growth of the city in the 14th Century.
During the plague pandemic, which depopulated large areas of Europe in 1348/49, antiJewish violence took place in many cities. Jews were accused of poisoning the wells,
which was allegedly the cause of the disease. Under this pretext, the Jewish community
of Ulm was a victim of persecution in January 1349.
Since 1354 Jews can be traced back in Ulm again. However, the unpredictable attitude
of the Christian magistrate did not change. 38 cities of southern Germany which were
indebted to Jewish bankers arranged the "Jewish Debt Repayment". As a result, only a
small part of the debt had been repaid. King Wenzel himself got paid by the cities
because of his approval of this agreement. Because of authoritarian measures in the
15th Century, Jewish life had suffered from further restrictions. This was associated to a
decline in economic strength, which resulted in shrinkage of tax revenues. Again, this
led to a decline of interest in the Jewish community by the city and the king.
On 6th August 1499 Emperor Maximilian I declared the status of "freedom of Jews"
after a request of the City Council of Ulm. All the Jews were forced to leave the city
within five months. Their homes were seized by the king who sold them later to the
Council of Ulm. In the 15th and 16th centuries, similar processes were known from
numerous German imperial cities.
The Council allowed the establishment of Jewish families within the territory of Ulm and
the region, which belonged to the city, with high restrictions. The city allowed the so
called “Provincial Jews” to enter the city only by a payment of gate taxes on scheduled
days. Until the 19th century no Jews lived in Ulm anymore.
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Der Judenhof – The Jewish Courtyard
The medieval Jewish community lived in the area of today's “Judenhof”, the
“Schuhhausgasse” and the “Paradiesgasse”. Judenhof was the place of important
community facilities such as the synagogue, a women's synagogue which was next to it,
a ritual bath (mikveh), a bakery and a dance house for festivals. The residential area of
the Jews of Ulm was not separated from the rest of the city as a ghetto. Jews and
Christians lived together within “Judenhof” and some patrician families owned some
houses there. Only the synagogue and her court were protected by a timber fence.
It seems that the dance house and the women's synagogue have been destroyed during
the pogrom of 1349, since they are no longer mentioned in later sources. However,
many residences, the synagogue and the cemetery located outside the city walls
remained, but they went into the possession of the Council or Christian citizens.
Afterwards Jews of Ulm had to pay a rent for the use of the synagogue and the
cemetery.
After the final expulsion of the Jews in Ulm in 1499, the synagogue was demolished.
After approximately hundred years the "Vogelschauplan", one of the oldest city plans of
Ulm, emerged, there haven´t been any Jewish community buildings within “Judenhof”
anymore.
The Jewish Cemetery
The oldest Jewish grave stone in Ulm is dedicated to a girl named Bellet, who died in the
year 1243. There had to be a Jewish cemetery at this time in Ulm. It is mentioned in May
1281 for the first time. Presumably it was in the area of today's Kelter-, Wengen- and
Sterngasse, outside the former fortification. As the city was enlarged in 1316, with it,
the circular wall also expanded. The Jewish cemetery was moved. Henceforth the
cemetery was in the northeast of the city before the “Neutor”, which was therefore
called the “Judentor”.
After the expulsion of the Jews from Ulm in 1499, the council leased the old cemetery
to Marner (Grautucher), who wove fabrics there.
During the pogrom in 1349 and the expulsion of 1499 the Jewish cemetery was
desecrated and apparently the grave stones were used as building material. For
example, five Jewish tombstones were discovered in 1827 under the used stones, when
the Herdbrucker gate was demolished, six more have been used for the main tower of
the “Ulmer Münster” as a building material. In some cases, the backside was used to
make epitaphs or memorial reliefs for Christian citizens of Ulm. Therefore nine medieval
Jewish grave stones have survived until today; on further 15 stones, at least the carved
inscription survived.
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Hebrew Book Art for Clients from Ulm
The community of Ulm played a significant role in Jewish book art in medieval Germany.
Jews of Ulm gave illustrated manuscripts in order. Today they are among the finest and
most significant preserved manuscripts from Ashkenaz, the German-speaking regions of
Europe.
Illuminated – decorated with paintings – manuscripts came up among the Jewish
communities of Europe in the 13th century and were from the beginning clearly driven
by the contemporaneous Christian book arts. The earliest Hebrew manuscript
illuminations stand in conflict with the prohibition in Exodus 20.4, which bans images,
the interpretation was never handled uniformly for the Jewish art. In the 13th century
book artists altered their human artists by leaving out facial features or using a head of
an animal instead, so that they did not constitute a representation of the creation
anymore. By the end of the century also in the Hebrew book art lifelike depictions of
figures were used unrestrictedly in Germany.
Originated in the 1230s, and thus oldest surviving illustrated manuscripts from
Ashkenaz, a bible manuscript (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana) and a comment from the
bible scholar Rashi's (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliotek) name Joseph Moshe from
Ulmen as a client. It is disputed whether the Hebrew transcription of the name refers to
Ulm or to other, similar-sounding places in Germany, but where no Jewish communities
have been documented.
Undoubtedly, Jacob Mattathias, who had illuminated manuscripts manufactured in the
mid-15th century, came from Ulm on the Danube, including the magnificent Ashkenazi
Haggadah, which was used privately at the Passover celebration. In the 15th century a
writers workshop can be documented in Ulm; several surviving manuscripts bear the
names of Jewish writers from the community of Ulm. The illustrative paintings were
normally made by special illuminators, who were not always Jewish or from Ulm.
A well-known writer and illuminator from Ulm, Meir ben Israel Jaffé, was also a master
of the art of leather cut. Therefore he was obviously widely appreciated. He was also
known for providing the Nuremberg Council with elaborate leather bindings for several
books.
Emancipation and Liberalization
Only because of the influence of the Reconnaissance and the French Revolution there
was a movement for equality of Jews in German society. In the 30s of the 19th century
there were first legal regulations for gradual abolition of social and legal discrimination.
It triggered a broad discussion on the "Jewish Question", which maintained in Germany
till the Constitution of the German Empire in 1871 was established. Only afterwards
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Jews were declared as citizens. But the entire development accompanied by further
discrimination, hate campaigns, violence and pogroms.
Expression of the new bourgeois Judaism was the construction of synagogues. The
largest Jewish house of prayer in Germany was built in 1866 in the “Oranienburger
Strasse” in Berlin. A typical feature of a reformed community was the installation of an
organ and praying in the local language. Protestant service served as a model for both.
In the course of the mediation of the former imperial city Ulm by Bavaria, Jews received,
after more than 300 years, a permission to settle in Ulm, again. However, there was a
considerable resistance in Ulm, so initially only a few Jewish families could move as
“Schutzjuden” (“protected Jews”) of the Bavarian State Directorate in 1806 to Ulm.
1828 followed the "Law respecting the public relations of the Jewish faith" the legal
equality of the Jews. It was formed – mainly coming from the rural communities – a
Jewish community in Ulm and in 1870 it had nearly 400 members. Already in year 1856
it was separated from the previous parent community in Laupheim and in 1873, the
building of a new synagogue and a community center could be inaugurated. In 1880,
the Jewish community reached its largest number of members at 694. Since 1888, Rabbi
Seligmann Fried, Jesaia Strasbourg and Dr. Ferdinand Straßburger and Dr. Julius Cohn
taught here. In 1899, the community purchased a plot of land for their own cemetery
on “Stuttgarter Strasse”.
Probably the most prominent son of the city of Ulm was the physicist Albert Einstein
(1879–1955). The family of the researcher, who himself emigrated to the United States
in the early stages, was since the 17th century resident of the Swabian region. Einstein
was born in Bad Buchau, today there are 99 (family) members in the local cemetery.
During World War I 18 Jewish soldiers from Ulm lost their lives for their home country.
The community complained about proportionally more casualties than the Christian
population had. The efforts of the founder of the World Zionist Organization, Theodor
Herzl, to create a Jewish national state, influenced European politics since the early 20th
Century. They were accompanied by an economic and cultural growth in the 20s; which
allowed a rich cultural and artificial life in the city of Ulm. Simultaneously the AntiSemitism increased. After the swearing-in of Adolf Hitler as chancellor in January 1933,
in Ulm, “Albert-Einstein-Straße” was renamed in “Fichtestraße”, the scholar Paul Moss
lost his honorary doctorate, Jewish businesses were boycotted, the Jewish cemetery was
desecrated, and finally in November 1938, the synagogue was set on fire. Jews were
abused, denounced, arrested, deported and murdered systematically.
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The Synagogue of the 19th Century
From 1845, the municipality of Ulm initially provided a room for prayer at the inn "Zum
Schwanen" on the “Weinhof”. In 1867, she purchased a plot on the north side of the
square. On this place a new synagogue was built according to the plans of the Stuttgart
architect, Adolf Wolff. Wolff, who was a Christian, designed also synagogues in
Crailsheim, Nuremberg, Heilbronn, Carlsbad and Lodz. He made use of the Moorish
style that was common in the historical architecture of its time for synagogues. The
oriental decor referred to the geographical origin of Judaism and should illustrate Jewish
religious buildings in a new appearance in German cities. Furthermore it provided their
own architectural language.
Inaugurated in 1873, under a great participation of the Christian population of Ulm, the
synagogue impressed with its elongated facade, the six window axis and the four
domed towers and shaped the appearance of “Weinhof”. In 1929, the Jewish
community replaced in the course of reorganizational measures the "Moorish" domes
by visually more conservative tent roofs.
On 9th November 1938, the Synagogue of Ulm burned down in flames, during the
German-wide anti-Jewish violence of the "Kristallnacht; the interior of the building with
the prayer hall was burnt out. A few days later, the demolition began after the direction
of the administration of Ulm. The "Ulmer Sturm" hailed the “notwendige
Judenabrechnung” (necessary Jewish pay off) and the disappearance of the synagogue
– which was called a "repulsive construction from a foreign world."
Nazi Era and the Holocaust
1933
The country wide, legalized exclusion and boycott measures are often
met hurrying ahead: Clubs and associations got rid of the Jews shortly
after the take-over of power
18th March
Dismissal of Professor Julius Baum as director of the Museum of Ulm.
Boycott against 105 Jewish businesses in Ulm
1st April
Beginning of the gradual depletion of the Jewish population
15th Sept
The "Nuremberg Laws" come into force
1935
Massive anti-Semitic inflammatory articles in the press
February: "What goes on in Ulm?"
1st July: "The Jews in Ulm in 1828"
30. Sep
The business of “Wegleins” on the “Münsterplatz” gets liquidated
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1938 9th Nov
12th Nov
Destruction of the synagogue in the “Kristallnacht” with severe riots
40 Jews come to Dachau
General ban on visiting public cultural events
Expropriation of the remaining 63 single and wholesale businesses in Ulm
Deportation of 17 Jews from Ulm with Polish citizenship
1939 30th August
Disbandment of the Israeli community and the Rabbinate
Well organized transports for children rescue Jewish children from Ulm
23rd June
1941 19th Sept
1st Dec
1942 26th April
Council Decision: Collection of the Jewish population in "Jewish houses"
The Ulm address register excludes the remaining 120 Jews
Wearing of the "Jewish Star" is a country wide duty
First deportation of Jews from Ulm (Riga)
Second deportation of Jews from Ulm (Izbica)
Resettlement of the remaining seniors in the ghetto for old in the region
20th August
Third Deportation (Theresienstadt, Auschwitz)
22nd August
Deportation of the seniors from the retirement home in Oberstotzingen
1943
Deportation of the family Hirsch
1945 February
David Eis is deported to Theresienstadt
9th May
With the total surrender of Germany the 2nd world war ends and with it
the rule of the Nazi regime
8th July
Resi and Sigo Weglein return to Ulm from the Theresienstadt
concentration camp
Only slightly more than a dozen of the Jews of Ulm survived the
Holocaust; over 200 were murdered
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Stagnation and New Beginning 1945 – 2012
After the end of World War II, there was no Jewish life in Germany anymore.
Worldwide, with about 55 million estimated victims. Europe complained about 6.3
million murdered Jews. Most of the 2,200 synagogues that existed before 1933 were
destroyed in November 1938. Only in the 50s began a renewed slow growth of Jewish
life; this went hand in hand with the construction of new houses of prayer and
communities.
Between 1945 and 1949, 1500 displaced Polish lived in shelters in Ulm, according to the
orders of the U.S. military government. In the summer 1946 approximately 6,500 Jews
arrived to the DP-camp in Ulm. Usually they were housed in vacant bastions and
barracks. There were prayer rooms, religious and secular schools, Jewish culture and
Jewish life. A total of about 6.5 million DPs had to be accommodated in the western
occupation zones. They were known as displaced persons (DPs). Included were former
KZ-prisoners, POWs and freed forced laborers. They all came from Eastern Europe; their
total number is estimated to 11.3 million in Europe.
In the summer of 1947, later prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, visited the city
of Ulm. The Foundation of the State of Israel – which was proclaimed on 14 May 1948
at the Museum in Tel Aviv – has enjoyed popularity among the DPs in Ulm. However,
the departure to Israel proceeded slowly, and after the closure of the camps in Ulm,
many people had to hold out in the other camps.
Apart from the few Jews who came from Ulm, only a few individuals among other
Jewish DPs and families stayed in the region of Ulm. It is the mixture of surviving
residents and the remaining displaced, which dominated the modest Jewish life.
Only with the immigration of Jewish families from countries of the former soviet states
in the early 90s, there was a visible increase of members in the communities. In Ulm, a
Jewish community could have been established only thanks to the Jews who had
immigrated from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
With the appointment of Rabbi Shneur Trebnik in the year 2000 and the rental of some
rooms in which meetings, festivals and celebrations could be held, the Jewish culture
has been reorganized step by step. Today, the Jewish proportion of the population of
Ulm is about 0.2 percent and the rabbinate of Ulm cares about around 450 members.
The Jewish community in Ulm is a branch of the Israelite Community Württemberg
(IRGW) based in Stuttgart.
Starting from the construction activity since the 50s, there are about 100 new
synagogues in Germany. In Ulm, the Jewish community complained in year 2008 for the
first time about some spatial shortcomings and a year later, the decision for a new
building on the historic “Weinhof” was taken. First archaeological excavations began in
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the year 2010; the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the synagogue
took place on March 17, 2011.
The Synagogue – Form and Function
With the construction of the new synagogue on the Weinhof, the Jewish community
returns back to the historic site – next to the spot where the old synagogue was
destroyed in 1938 and was built in the 19th century. The new building creates a visible
presence to the picture of the city and to the population of Ulm.
Unlike the predecessor building, which was – on the site of today's “Sparkasse” building
– integrated into the facade line of the buildings around, the new synagogue stands
freely on the surface of the northern “Weinhof”, giving it an even more significant
architectural and urban position.
Nine architectural firms were invited in August 2009 to create designs for the planned
synagogue. The tender specification provided not only a prayer room for 130
worshipers, but also an auditorium, a library, a Jewish kindergarten, a religious school, a
mikveh (ritual bath), a shop for kosher foods as well as administrative offices. In addition
to these functional requirements, the building had to be designed with the requirement
of fitting its architectural style to the surrounding area of the historic “Weinhof”; the
urban dominance of the “Schwörhaus” should be preserved.
The advisory committee consisting of representatives of the Israelite Community of
Württemberg, the city of Ulm, the municipal council, and three architects unanimously
elected the draft with the design of the architect Susanne Gross from Cologne (office of
architecture Kister, Scheithauer, Gross). In the explanation, the jury emphasized the
simple and modest building, the small, as little as possible colliding with in the face of
“Weinhof”, dimensions and the successful proportions in relation to neighboring
buildings. At the same time the architectural design of natural stone facades of the
building confers a religious function adequate efficacy. The design was changed in some
aspects after a request by the Commission and the building owner (IRGW). The main
facade received a greater opening to the “Weinhof” by an additional window. The
perforated stone relief of the facade has been transformed into many stars of David.
Now it’s facing the southeast edge of the building to Jerusalem and thus the orientation
of the inside lying prayer area, too. The whole building was turned slightly to the
northeast, so that the facade is more focused on the surface of “Weinhof”.
As monumental functioning solitaire on “Weinhof”, the new synagogue has
simultaneously a memorial effect. It corresponds to a current trend in building
synagogues, which includes synagogues such as in Dresden (2001) and Munich (2006).
These synagogues are not just places of worship of the Jewish community, but in the
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same time “have functions as a reminder of Jewish history and therefore are buildings
for the German society, too” (Ulrich Knufinke).
The Equipment of the Synagogue and the Jewish Worship
In the history, the design of the synagogue hasn´t developed a binding and recognizable
external building type. There are only some requirements for the features of the prayer
room: The shrine for the Torah scrolls stands at the wall facing Jerusalem. In Western
European synagogues this is usually the east wall. Above the shrine you can find an
Eternal Light (Ner Tamid). The reading from the Torah is on the bimah, a lectern or a
speaker platform that can either stand in the center of the room or in front of the
shrine. In traditional synagogues there is a separate area for women, often in form of
galleries, from which they follow the service; in reform communities the need of the
separation of the sexes is no longer considered.
Main focus during the worship is the reading from the Torah, which consists of Five
Books of Moses. To do that a minimum of ten adult Jews, in the religious sense, is
necessary, which is called a Minyan. The religious maturity for boy occurs at the age of
13 (Bar Mitzvah) and at 12 for girls (Bat Mitzvah). For the reading from the Torah, in the
context of the divine service, individual members of the community are called to recite a
portion. The entire Torah is divided into 54 sections. One section is read in every service,
so that in the course of a year the entire text of the Torah is read completely. One
member of the community of prayers takes the leading role (cantor). The rabbi can
preach during the service; yet a sermon is not a mandatory part of the rite.
title: the new Synagogue of Ulm, © Museum of Ulm, photo Martina Strilic
English translation by Slava Satanovskyy, Ulm
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