The Kassel Synagogue was a former Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Untere Königsstraße, in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. The second synagogue for the congregation was completed in 1839 and set ablaze by the Nazis on November 9, 1938, during the Kristallnacht pogrom. A new synagogue for the congregation, on Bremer Street, was completed in 2000.

History

Construction

In 1827, a previous synagogue was closed due to its dilapidated state. In 1828, the government offered a new location for the construction of a new synagogue at the corner of Untere Königsstraße and Bremerstraße. Several blueprints (by August Schuchardt, Conrad Bromeis, and Julius Eugen Ruhl) were rejected by the community. Finally, a blueprint by Albrecht Rosengarten was accepted, and after three years of construction the new synagogue was opened on August 8, 1839. It was the first Rundbogenstil synagogue, and the style was widely adopted in Central Europe and abroad in the following decades.

Nazi rule and destruction of the synagogue

On November 7, 1938, in the course of Kristallnacht, the synagogue was desecrated by the Nazis; part of its interior decoration and ritual accessories were burned outside. On November 11, 1938, the city authorities decided to demolish the synagogue. A memorial plaque was installed at its former location with the following inscription:

Post-war period

A new prayer hall was built in Heubnerstraße in 1952/53. As it became too small by the 1960s, the decision was made to build a new synagogue with a community centre. On December 12, 1965, the new building with the community hall for 100 people was inaugurated. As it in turn became too small for the growing Jewish community, another new synagogue, designed by Alfred Jacoby, in the Modernist style, built of concrete, was completed in 2000. Funds for its construction were provided by, among others, the government of Hesse, the city of Kassel, the North-Hesse administrative districts, the local branch of the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Catholic Diocese of Fulda, and through private donations.