Essen. Synagogue

Essen. Synagogue, Peace Church and Centenary Fountain. Published by W. Girardet, Essen.

Designed by Edmund Körner (1874–1940) in close cooperation with the city’s principal, reform-oriented rabbi, Salomon Samuel (1867–1942), in the Byzantine style, Essen’s New Synagogue, as it was then, was inaugurated in 1913 and had room for up to 1,500 worshippers. Given that Körner worked for numerous Jewish clients, the local Nazis took it for granted that he must be “at least a half-Jew”. According to his widow, he was banned from working in and around the city from 1933 onwards. Set alight in the November Pogrom of 1938, the interior of the synagogue was largely destroyed, but the solidly constructed building itself survived. Given that it could not be blown up without endangering the surrounding buildings, the Nazis eventually abandoned their plans to demolish it. The building stood empty until 1959 when the municipality stripped out all remaining traces of its original purpose and refurbished the building as an industrial design museum. Since 1980, the Old Synagogue, as it is now known, has served as a museum and memorial and, more recently, as a Jewish cultural centre. The space in front of the Peace Church is now called Edmund Körner Square. The Old Synagogue in Essen is now one of the most frequently used visual symbols of Jewish life in Germany, arguably second only to the splendid cupola of what remains of the New Synagogue in Berlin.

Salomon Samuel retired from his position in Essen and moved to Berlin. In August 1942, Salomon Samuel, his wife Anna Samuel, née Friedländer (1874–1942) a and his sister Cäcilie Samuel (1870–1942) were deported to Theresienstadt where they perished less than two months later, on 10, 14 and 18 October 1942, respectively. Of the 100 Jews on this particular transport, just three survived.

The foundation stone for the originally free-standing Centenary Fountain (in front of the church), inaugurated in 1907, was laid in 1902 to commemorate the centenary of Essen becoming part of Prussia. Construction of the Old Catholic Peace Church commenced in 1914, it was inaugurated in 1916.