Synagogue du Quai Kléber

The Synagogue du Quai Kléber (German: Synagoge am Kleberstaden, also formerly known as Neue Synagoge, "New Synagogue") was the main synagogue of Strasbourg, France before World War II. It was built in the "Neustadt" when the city was part of the German Empire (until 1918) and destroyed by Nazi Germany after it annexed the city in 1940; in the years between, Strasbourg and its Jewish community were French.

Synagogue du Quai Kléber
Lateral view, seen from Canal du Faux-Rempart
Former location of the synagogue
Former namesSynagoge am Kleberstaden
Alternative namesNeue Synagoge
General information
Typesynagogue
Architectural styleRomanesque Revival
LocationStrasbourg, France
Coordinates48°35′07″N 7°44′30″E
Construction started1895
Completed1898
Destroyed1940–1941
Cost800,000 Reichsmark
Height54 m (177 ft)
Design and construction
ArchitectLudwig Levy

History

The synagogue was designed by Ludwig Levy (1854–1907) and built from 1895 until 1898 at a final cost of 800,000 Reichsmark.[1] The imposing Romanesque Revival building was inspired by the Imperial Cathedrals of Mainz, Speyer, and Worms, all located in the Rhine region, like Strasbourg.[2]

The synagogue was built in pink and grey Vosges sandstone from the Phalsbourg quarries and crowned with a 54 m (177 ft) dome,[3] which rivalled the neighbouring Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Catholic Church. The main hall's nave was 46 m (151 ft) long and 19 m (62 ft) wide and had 1,639 seats on two levels: 825 for the men and 654 for the women; the space surrounding the ark contained 40 seats for the choir. A lateral oratory that was used on working days could accommodate 100 people.[4] The main prayer room was equipped with a pipe organ made by Walcker Orgelbau, which was replaced in 1925 by an instrument by Edmond Alexandre Roethinger.[5]

After the 1940 victory over France, the Nazis annexed Alsace. The synagogue was first entirely plundered, then burnt to the ground. The destruction by arson was the work of a group of Hitler Youths from Baden and Alsace and occurred during the night from 30 September to 1 October 1940; a first deliberate fire had already been lit on 12 September.[6] What remained of the walls was totally razed in 1941.[7]

A first memorial to the synagogue was inaugurated in 1976 near the place where it once stood. That memorial was expanded in 1994, and the tramway station nearby was given the name Ancienne Synagogue Les Halles[8] In 2012, the perimeter of the memorial was expanded again to include a newly created Allée des Justes-parmi-les-Nations dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations.[9] The 1994 memorial was knocked down by a car in March 2019 in what was first suspected to be a deliberate act but was later ruled to be an accident;[10] it has been restored since.

References
  1. Daltroff, Jean (June 2012). La Synagogue du quai Kléber. Bernardswiller: I. D. L′Édition. p. 13. ISBN 978-2-36701-007-6.
  2. Daltroff, p. 21
  3. Daltroff, p. 24
  4. Daltroff, p. 26
  5. Daltroff, pp. 30–31
  6. Daltroff, pp. 66–67
  7. Daltroff, pp. 68–70
  8. Daltroff, pp. 80–81
  9. "Inauguration de l'Allée des Justes à Strasbourg". Le Judaïsme d'Alsace et de Lorraine. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  10. Lecointre, Geneviève (8 March 2019). "La stèle de l'ancienne synagogue de Strasbourg a été heurtée par une voiture, pas d'acte antisémite". Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
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