Von der „Wahrung“ des „Stadt- und Strassenbildes“ bis zur Zerstörung

This study examines the history of the synagogue in Potsdam, built in 1903, which had already been desecrated even before the November Pogrom (1938) and which was destroyed in 1945 during the Allied attacks. The authors shed light on the room various actors had to maneuver, including Hans Friedrichs, the mayor of Potsdam who had reshaped the cityscape to fit Nazi ideals as well as representatives of the Jewish community, who were fighting for their right to exist. At Friedrichs’ initiative, the synagogue and community center were forcibly sold to the neighboring German post office Deutsche Reichspost after the November Pogrom. Finally, the treatment of the sacred ritual objects from the synagogue directly after the war will be described here for the first time. These had been presented to the Jewish community in Berlin by Potsdam’s garden director, Hans Kölle, and his son for the sake of their own rehabilitation.

Cityscape · German · Judaism · Nazism · World War II · European history and politics · German History and Society · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity