| Fasanenstrasse Synagogue | |
|---|---|
 The synagogue, inc. 1916 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Reform Judaism(former) |
| Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Synagogue(1912–1936) |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Location | |
| Location | Fasanenstrasse,Charlottenburg,Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
  Location of the former synagogue inBerlin | |
| Geographic coordinates | 52°30′16″N13°19′41″E / 52.50444°N 13.32806°E /52.50444; 13.32806 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Ehrenfried Hessel |
| Type | Synagogue architecture |
| Style | |
| Completed | 1912 |
| Destroyed | 1943(duringWorld War II) |
| Specifications | |
| Capacity | 1,720 seats |
| Dome(s) | Three |
TheFasanenstrasse Synagogue was a formerliberalJewish congregation andsynagogue, that was located at 79–80 Fasanenstrasse offKurfürstendamm, in the affluent neighbourhood ofCharlottenburg, inBerlin,Germany.[1] Completed on 26 August 1912, the synagogue was located close to theBerlin Stadtbahn andZoo Station.
Closed by theNazis in 1936, the synagogue was partially destroyed onKristallnacht in 1938, and further devastated in 1943 duringWorld War II, the result of anAllied air raid.
The fast-growing Jewish Community in Charlottenburg purchased the premises in 1905 and following an architecture competition the synagogue was built from 1910 in aRomanesque Revival style (similar to the nearbyKaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) with three domes and distinctiveByzantine Revival elements. Finished in 1912, the monumental structure was large enough to accommodate up to 1,720 worshippers and also included a religious school.
While older synagogues – such as that onRykestrasse – had usually been erected in backyards, the temple with its richly decorated frontage was intended as a visible statement ofJewish emancipation in theGerman Empire. RabbiLeo Baeck was one of its leaders. Its main cantor for many years wasMagnus Davidsohn andRichard Altmann (who was blind) was its organist.
EmperorWilhelm II presented the synagogue with a ceremonial marriage hall richly adorned withMaiolica tiles from his manufacture inKadinen, dedicated to the Jews of Germany, and, asMagnus Davidsohn's daughter,Ilse Stanley, describes in her bookThe Unforgotten, visited the temple upon its opening.Kurt Tucholsky on this occasion mocked "the patriotic synagogue" criticizing a voluntaryassimilation of German Jews while the ruling class had nothing but contempt for them.[2]
By 1931 worshippers were being attacked by paramilitarySA troopers and juveniles incited by anti-semites. The synagogue functioned for only twenty four years until theNazi authorities finally forced it to close in 1936. The building was destroyed during theKristallnachtpogrom during the night of 9–10 November 1938. At theBeer Hall Putsch commemoration in Munich, MinisterJoseph Goebbels had personally given the orders to smash the synagogue,[3] at that time the largest in Berlin.SA men broke into the building, shattered the interior, piled up religious objects, and finally set the synagogue on fire with fuel they got from a nearby filling station — in the presence of the fire department, which confined itself to preventing the flames from spreading to neighbouring houses.
In 1939 the property was seized in favour of theDeutsche Reichspost. The remains of the building were again devastated during a 1943Allied air raid.
Afterthe Holocaust, most of the few Jews who returned to Berlin were immigrants fromEastern Europe. ChairmanHeinz Galinski promoted the grounds of the former Fasanenstrasse Synagogue to be chosen for the building of a new Jewish Community Centre (Jüdisches Gemeindehaus Fasanenstrasse). On 10 November 1957, theWest Berlin mayorWilly Brandt attended the ceremony of laying itscornerstone. The old ruins were removed, but a few surviving elements, such as the main portal, were kept as decoration of the new building designed in theModern style of the 1950s. TheGemeindehaus was inaugurated on September 27, 1959.
On November 9, 1969, during ceremonies to commemorate theKristallnacht, theTupamaros West-Berlin attempted to attack the Community Center; the bomb, supplied by undercover government agentPeter Urbach, failed to explode.[4]
Since 2006 the building hosts the Jewish adult education centre and administrative departments as the Community Center has moved to theNew Synagogue onOranienburger Strasse.
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