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III. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Hamburg - Hoheluft/Eimsbüttel.No. 25 Hoheluftchaussee.
In 1909 the Kelilath und Agudath Jescharim Union established a synagogue at no. 25 Hoheluftchaussee. The name of the district Hoheluft (high air) gave rise to the jocular expression "zeppelin shul". The architect Semmy Engel converted part of a building situated to the rear of the old building facing the street. The conversion began in the spring of 1909. "The result was a light, high-windowed synagogue with a roomy women's gallery, satisfactory cloakrooms and a flat on the upper-floor for an official". The synagogue was only accessible via the house fronting the street. The east side, with the Torah shrine faced the courtyard. Two doors, situated in a section of the building laying back to the right, led into the vestibule containing the cloakroom and stairs leading to the women's gallery. The synagogue was inaugurated on the 12th September 1909. The interior furnishings were taken from the synagogue in Elbstraße (No. 110 Neanderstraße/Ost-West-Straße), which was sold in 1906.
The baroque Torah shrine and seating which were transferred to the synagogue at no. 25 Hoheluftchaussee. This old synagogue was initially built in 1788/89 by Ernst Georg Sonnin for the Altona Community in Hamburg. After the disbanding of the tri-community of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek (AHW) in 1812 it became the main synagogue of the Deutsch-Israelitische Gemeinde (German Israelite Community) in Hamburg. When this old community synagogue was demolished the Torah shrine and seating were retained and later installed in the Hoheluft synagogue. It was thought by some that the "baroque shrine which was constructed for a synagogue of other proportions" was out of place in its sober new surroundings. Although the synagogue was not a Klaus synagogue the north gallery could be separated off to provide a study room and weekday synagogue. The synagogue could accommodate 120 men and 60 women. Ten years after its inauguration the synagogue was renovated; the reopening took place on the tenth anniversary, i.e. the 12th September 1919. In 1934, on the 25th anniversary, in the celebratory sermon it was said: The special blessing of the synagogue should be that the congregation become as one and that this solidarity be retained in the world through common experience. So would Judaism remain strong in endurance and surmount difficulties. And should the storm rage against Israel then we should heed what the prophet inculcated in us: Go my people, return to your dwelling places." The congregation were deported and murdered. The synagogue was destroyed in an air-raid in 1943.
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