The Synagogue du Quai Kléber (, also formerly known as ''Neue Synagoge'', "New Synagogue") was the main

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was built in the " Neustadt" when the city was part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(until 1918) and destroyed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

after it annexed the city in 1940; in the years between, Strasbourg and its Jewish community were French.

History

The synagogue was designed by Ludwig Levy (1854–1907) and built from 1895 until 1898 at a final cost of 800,000

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

. The imposing Romanesque Revival building was inspired by the Imperial Cathedrals of

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, and

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

, all located in the Rhine region, like Strasbourg. The synagogue was built in pink and grey

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

from the

Phalsbourg Phalsbourg (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Phalsburch'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France, with a population of about 5,000. It lies high on ...

quarries and crowned with a

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

, which rivalled the neighbouring Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Catholic Church. The main hall's

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was long and 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 choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

. A lateral oratory that was used on working days could accommodate 100 people. The main prayer room was equipped with a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

made by

Walcker Orgelbau Walcker Orgelbau (also known as E. F. Walcker & Cie.) of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is a builder of pipe organs. It was founded in Cannstatt, a suburb of Stuttgart in 1780 by . His son Eberhard Friedrich Walcker moved the business t ...

, which was replaced in 1925 by an instrument by . After the 1940 victory over France, the Nazis annexed

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. The synagogue was first entirely plundered, then burnt to the ground. The destruction by

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

was the work of a group of

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

s from

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

and Alsace and occurred during the night of 30 September/ 1 October 1940; a first deliberate fire had already been lit on 12 September. What remained of the walls was totally razed in 1941. 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''. 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 Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

. 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; it has been restored since.

Gallery

Strasbourg synagogue quai Kléber portail principal 1898-1940.jpg, Main portal, with

Star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...

and

Tablets of Stone According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law (also Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony; Biblical Hebrew: לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית ''lūḥōṯ habbǝrīṯ'' "tablets of the covenant", לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶ ...

Strasbourg synagogue quai Kléber vue nef 1898-1940.jpg, Interior looking west Synagogue consistoriale du quai Kléber intérieur 1898-1940.jpg, Interior looking east Strasbourg synagogue quai Kléber panorama 1898-1940.jpg, On a postcard, 1898 Strassburg-Kleberstaden und Synagoge-1918.jpg, On a postcard, 1918

References

External links

La Synagogue Consistoriale du quai Kléber De la pose de la première pierre à sa destruction (1896-1940)

{{Synagogues in Germany 1898 architecture 19th-century synagogues in France Alsatian-Jewish history Buildings and structures demolished in 1940 Buildings and structures in Strasbourg Religion in Strasbourg Romanesque Revival architecture in France Romanesque Revival synagogues Strasbourg in World War II Synagogue buildings with domes Synagogues completed in 1898 Synagogues destroyed by Nazi Germany Synagogues in Germany Former synagogues in France Vandalized works of art Synagogues destroyed by arson 19th century in Strasbourg 20th century in Strasbourg