Remembering together – stumbling with heart and head

History of the Güstrow synagogues

The word synagogue derives from the ancient Greek `συναγωγή synagōgē´.

This term has two definitions. On the one hand the synagogue is the term for the gathering community and on the other hand for the building itself. This building is not only used for Jewish worship, but also for community events and as a classroom for the Jewish community. Adult education took place there, as did Hebrew lessons for school-age children.

In orthodox or conservative Judaism, the places of worship are called synagogues. However, some others also use the Hebrew term Beth Knesset or the Yiddish term Schul. In larger synagogues, three daily prayers are offered: the morning service Shacharit, the afternoon service Mincha and the evening service Maariv. In many smaller congregations, services are held only once or twice a week. There are special services for the Jewish holidays and Shabbat.

Since the synagogue is not a sacred space, any location can serve as a synagogue if it meets certain requirements. The Torah scrolls are kept in a special shrine (Aron h-Qodesch) on the east wall towards Jerusalem (Misrach). Above the shrine is a symbolic commandment tablet, similar to the Ten Commandments, and a light (Ner Tamid). In front of the shrine is the lectern (Bimah), on which the holy Torah is placed for reading. In addition, a seven-armed candlestick (Menorah) adorns the room. There are no special requirements for the separation of the sexes, these are structurally solved differently or even partially ignored.

The first synagogue in Güstrow in the area of today's monastery courtyard

The second “synagogue” in the city of Güstrow on the Ratsbauhof

On September 28, 1829, the third synagogue in the city of Güstrow was inaugurated

The first synagogue in Güstrow

On the site of today's monastery courtyard was the first synagogue in Güstrow, which fell victim to a pogrom in 1330. According to the story, there lived a Jewish woman who had converted to Christianity and quarreled with her Jewish sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law reproached her for having been baptized only in order to be able to live more voluptuously. The convert was beside herself and explained her motives for converting with a story she wanted to make public. In this story, a Christian woman from Güstrow had sold a consecrated host to a Jew, which he then stabbed in the synagogue. As a result, the host began to bleed in several places and the participants heard a child's voice, although none was present. The Jewish woman took this as an opportunity to immediately convert to Christianity, asking for forgiveness of her sins. 1

This story spread quickly and all the Jews of the city were captured and, by princely order, questioned with torture about the accusations of desecration of the host. However, no confession was made by the Jews. The Christian woman arrested in the course of this story, who is said to have sold the host, immediately confessed and was burned at the stake. In order to avoid further blasphemies of this kind, the Christians tried to persuade the most respected Jew named Eleazar and his family to be baptized, in the hope that the remaining 23 Jews would do the same.

However, this did not happen, so that by decree of the then Duke Johann II, all Jews and their families were also burned at the stake. After that, the house of the Jew, Eleazar was searched and the supposedly desecrated host was found. The ensuing anger of the population led to the destruction of the synagogue. This anti-Semitism was encouraged by the accusation that the Jews were solely responsible for the death of Jesus Christ and, due to their strict dietary laws, they only occasionally fell ill with the regularly occurring epidemics, which in turn brought them under suspicion of `well poisoners´. 2

From the assets of the executed Jews, a Chapel of the Holy Blood or Corpus Christi Chapel was built at the old site of the synagogue and the stabbed host was allegedly kept there. During the great city fire in 1503, the chapel was destroyed. Subsequently, a Franciscan monastery was built there in 1509/10.

The second "synagogue"

From the destruction of the Güstrow synagogue around 1330 until the end of the 18th century, there was no longer any Jewish community life in Güstrow and consequently no Jewish place of worship, but this does not mean that there were no Jews. From 1749 to 1800, seven Güstrow protection Jews lived in Güstrow with their families as so-called Schutzjuden. 3

From a legal point of view, they were only tolerated and were only allowed to stay in the country for Annual Fairs without a special concession from the sovereign. They were excluded from the proper crafts and were not allowed to own land. They were allowed to trade, including the Güstrow protection Jews, who worked as peddlers and junk dealers. Gradually, more and more Jews came to Güstrow, who needed a room for their services, which were now taking place again. For this purpose, an apartment was rented on the corner of Baustraße and Armesünderstraße and used as a prayer room.

The 3rd Synagogue in the City of Güstrow

With the resettlement of the Jews in Mecklenburg, the Jewish communities grew steadily, including in Güstrow. With the increasing growth, the desire for their own synagogue became stronger and stronger. However, it was not until 1829 that the estate of a Mrs. Jacobsen and further donations made it possible to provide the financial means for the construction of the synagogue at Krönchenhagen 13. It is believed that an older building on the same square was previously used as a synagogue and demolished for the new building.

The new building was inaugurated on 28 September 1829. It was a single-storey classicist building, which was not built directly on the street but offset to the rear. In the front area facing the street was a small garden with trees that provided shade.

In addition to the church services, the synagogue also hosted community meetings and religious instruction. In 1870, the Jewish community center was built to the left of the synagogue, which is still preserved today. A prayer room was set up on the upper floor, which was also used as a winter synagogue. The religion teacher lived in the parish hall, where religious instruction took place in the school room that had been specially added for this purpose in 1882. Not only did the children from Güstrow come here, Jews from Neustrelitz and Schwerin also sent their children to Güstrow to learn. In 1901 and 1929 the interior was renovated. In addition, in 1929 the synagogue was given a blue slate roof and a white-yellow coat of paint.

City view of Güstrow before 1938, synagogue bottom right (white building)
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The Jew Ali Grossmann, who lived as a child in Baustraße in Güstrow and survived the Holocaust, summarized his memories of the Güstrow synagogue many years later as follows:

"During holidays, all the Jews from the small, nearby towns came to take part in the services. The town of Güstrow had a magnificent synagogue, which also served the Jews in the area. As guests, they stayed with Jewish families until the end of the holidays. Alfred Blumenfeld was the cantor. He was very small, but had a powerful voice that could be heard throughout half the city. At Yom Kippur, he prayed with great devotion and every word sung was expressed for an eternity. I had a pocket watch with a lid and from time to time I looked at how long it took him to finish a single word. A caretaker and his family managed the entire synagogue complex. They lived in one of the apartments that belonged to the synagogue - the father, his wife and their twelve-year-old son. They were Christians and their job was to clean all the buildings and keep them in perfect order. On Friday evening at the beginning of Shabbat they lit the gas lamps and at the end of Shabbat, on Saturday evening they extinguished the lamps again. They prepared coffee and cake, which was served to the congregation after the service. They placed a prayer book and a Bible on each seat and collected the money for the entrance to the synagogue on holidays. The father usually performed all these services, while the wife did the housewife´s work. Father and son always entered the synagogue without headgear, which always seemed very strange to me." 4

Dr. Moritz Löwe (1841-49), Jehuda Hamburger (1849-64), Dr. Louis Roth (1864-68), Dr. Leopold Löwenstein (1868-70), Leopold Donath (1870-76) and the itinerant teacher Steinweg (1913-17) are known as religion teachers and religious officials. The last religion teacher of the Jewish community in Güstrow was Kurt Schatz (from 1938), who died with his family in Auschwitz. Until Kristallnacht on the 9th to 10th November 1938, services were held regularly in the synagogue, which were attended by the ever-shrinking community.

In the early hours of November 10th, at 5:30 a.m., the synagogue was set on fire by Güstrow SS men. The fire brigade managed to protect the adjacent buildings. The synagogue itself was not erased completely, the parish hall and the training room, which now houses a studio, remained intact and have survived to this day.

Reminders in Güstrow

Today there is a parking area on the property and since August 18^th, 2006 an inscription along the pedestrian path in front of the parking area: "September 28th, 1829 inauguration / synagogue Güstrow / November 9, 1938 destruction". 5

In the parish church, visitors to Güstrow have the opportunity to look at a model of the synagogue and in the cathedral of the Barlach city a warning documentation of the events of 09.11.1938.