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IV. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Altona.1. Park, Kirchenstraße (former No. 5-9 Klein Papagoyenstraße/No. 50/52 Hochstraße).
Park, Kirchenstraße (former No. 50 Hochstraße).
Kirchenstraße (former No. 54 Hochstraße).
Park, Kirchenstraße (former Kleine Papagoyenstraße)
between where Breite Straße continues into Lange Straße, 1802. The Altona Synagogue. From Jewish History. Dedicated, in veneration, to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Grünberg. When one lays a transparency of a current road map on top of an old map one can see the position of the former Kleine Papagoyenstraße; then one can gain an idea of where the beautiful, old synagogue of the Altona High German Jewish Community (Hochdeutsche Israelite Gemeinde) once stood.
The building was begun in 1682 and was completed and inaugurated in 1684. The
earliest description of the Papagoyen Synagogue dates from 1714, that is after its
restoration. The synagogue was severely damaged in the Great Fire of Altona in
1711 and two years later five cannonballs remained lodged in one of its walls
following the Swedish attack on Altona. Johann Jacob Schudt gave the following
description of the synagogue following its restoration: An early chronicle reports that the king of Denmark, who had permitted the building of the synagogue by the Altona Jews, later honoured it with a visit.
What did the synagogue look like?: One entered the synagogue, referred to, in Jewish vernacular, as the "shul", by one of the two heavy, dark brown entrance doors; the largest of the two led to the "men's shul" and the somewhat smaller to the women's gallery, from where one looked down upon the prayer hall. A long, tiled vestibule served as an anteroom and cloakroom, and led to a tiny, windowless room where the rabbi could don his cassock and take a short pause following his sermon. From the vestibule several wide, carpeted steps led up to the prayer hall with the holy shrine housing the Torah rolls, the almemar and the large candelabra, today its Hebrew inscribed brass base being exhibited in the Altona Museum. The candelabra was a present from Jewish refugees from the terrible pogroms in Poland and Russia in the 17th century, in gratitude for their kind-hearted reception by the Altona Jewish community. The marble covered walls displayed panels with inscriptions, recalling special prayers said at particular seasons or festivals: in winter, for example, one says the plea for rain to come at the right time and in the right quantity, while on festivals and holidays the inscription of the Hallel, a section of the liturgy consisting of Psalms 113-118 read during the morning service on festivals, Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh, gleamed. The synagogue was radiated with light from a huge chandelier that was reported to weigh 450 kilogrammes.
Some of the most important events that took place during the 20th century are
described below:
In 1925 the Mayor of Altona, Max Brauer, visited the synagogue to deliver a
welcoming speech in honour of the new Chief Rabbi, Dr Joseph Carlebach. He
said: Still, a synagogue is not only an example of religious architecture or a reception hall for official events. It is more importantly a meeting place as the literal translation of the Hebrew word "Bet-Knesset" implies. The members of the Jewish community meet here: they worship here and converse, mourn together and celebrate their religious festivals together. In 1929 a concert in aid of the Jewish welfare services was held in the synagogue without in any way offending the dignity of the house of worship. In my childhood memory my favourite festival was Simchath Torah, celebrated annually immediately after Sukkoth on Tishri 23, in the autumn, to mark the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and its immediate recommencement. "It is the children's festival for both boys and girls. Everyone enters the men's shul. The children carry colourful banners; they are showered with sweets so as to associate the sweet taste with the teaching of the holy Torah. The gold embroidered curtain is drawn back, the Torah shrine opened and all the Torah rolls lifted out. They are decorated with embroidered, velvet mantels with silver plates and beautiful crowns from which hang little bells; these little bells ring out in many soft, delicate, harmonic notes. The shul is brightly lit and the men, in their white talliths, sing and dance holding the Torah rolls in their arms, with the children waving their colourful banners. Everyone is led by Chief Rabbi Carlebach who keeps his eyes open in case any child be overlooked, has no banner, has received no sweets or who is not participating in the circling dance. Then he fetches him out of his corner and lifts him high and they dance and sing and clap hands all together. Then the best moment arrives: all the, twenty or thirty, young, three to five-year-old boys climb the steps to the almemar. An open Torah roll lies there on a red, velvet cloth. The cantor uses a silver pointer to show the children where in the Torah the current reading commences. Then a broad tallith is spread over the group of children and, with the help of the cantor, the children say: "Blessed be thou God ... , that thou hast given us thine Torah", and the entire congregation answers with a reverberating "Amen". I describe this scene as though it were in the present, as it was an unforgettable scene, and the children's voices ring out in me still like the music of angels." This so very Jewish festival of "Torah-Joy" was the last to be celebrated in all synagogues in Germany - exactly two weeks prior to the so-called "Kristallnacht" pogrom of the 9th/10th November 1938.
On the 9th December 1934 the Altona synagogue became 250 years old and the
board of the synagogue invited all members to an anniversary celebration. The
National Socialists had come to power and threatening clouds were drifting over the
Jewish communities in Germany and Jews as a whole, as over the around 2,000
member Altona Jewish community. The chairman Dr Louis Frank clearly expressed
his concern so: What was exceptional about these past generations and in particular Chief Rabbi Dr Meir Lerner, predecessor to Joseph Carlebach? He had "a heart full of kindness and understanding". Later Chief Rabbi Carlebach in his inaugural speech as chief rabbi in Hamburg characterized his predecessor in Altona as "prince of philanthropy". He himself vowed that, modelling himself on Chief Rabbi Dr Meir Lerner, his heart would be open to the needs of each individual, that he would stand by the community members in difficult times, and that he would never abandon his community. We now know how he, his wife Lotte, and their three youngest daughters Ruth, Noemi and Sara kept this tragic vow. This joyful Torah festival was celebrated 254 times in 254 years in this synagogue. People prayed here on 92,000 days - until "Kristallnacht" on the 9th November 1938. Due to its jutaposition to houses in Langenstraße (later Altonaer Hochstraße), Breitestraße and Kirchenstraße the old synagogue escaped arson but the interior furnishings and the marble panels with their Hebrew scripts were smashed, the ritual objects profaned, the Torah rolls torn and wantonly desecrated. Finally, in 1942 the walls were broken through and the building disfigured beyond recognition in the process of establishing quarters for skilled, foreign slave workers. In 1943 the building was destroyed in an air-raid. The synagogue and the Papagoyenstraße no longer exist. Today, who knows that for centuries a synagogue stood in a former Papagoyenstraße? Only those with access to an old map. A plaque has been affixed to the wall of a nearby house - it should remind us of the synagogue, the children who danced there with their chief rabbi, their fathers and mothers, who listened with pride and emotion to the benediction said by the children over the open Torah roll. But a memorial stone, a plaque, an informative notice can never do justice to the ever-living past, can never bring back murdered children or the former joy of life destroyed by the pogrom. And yet the memory should be kept alive. We read in Joshua 4,6: "That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?". It is the duty of parents and educators to respond and answer. We read in Habakkuk 2,11: "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." The memorial stone or plaque serves as a symbol of the confrontation with the Holocaust, as evidence of recollection. It is essential to the life and conscience of you and your children who only know of the former old Altona synagogue and Jewish prayer from hearsay.
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