User:Yngvadottir/Old main synagogue, Munich

The 'old main synagogue was the primary synagogue of the Jewish community of Munich and Upper Bavaria in Munich, Germany, from 1887 to 1938, when it was demolished by order of Adolf Hitler. It occupied a prominent site in central Munich that was offered to the community for sale by order of King Ludwig II; the site now underlies the Oberpollinger department store, and the synagogue is commemorated by a memorial on an adjacent street.

Synagogue
The synagogue was designed by the Thuringian Albert Schmidt (architect) in Romanesque revival style, the first monumental building in that style in Munich. The exterior was brick with stone detailing. The site was at 7 Herzog-Max-Straße; the Künstlerhaus, Munich was subsequently built on an adjacent site. The primary entrance façade at the west end faced towards Lenbachplatz; this had a rosette window surmounted by a prominent octagonal tower flanked by two turrets, and corner stairway towers.

The interior worship space was rib vaulted, with round columns supporting the women's balcony and creating two side aisles. Steps led up to the sanctuary at the east end, and the synagogue had an organ. It seated 1,000 men and 800 women, making it the third largest synagogue in Germany at the time.

History
The Jewish community of Munich had outgrown its former main synagogue at 7 Westenriederstraße, inaugurated in 1826 with a capacity of 320. Attempts to replace it began in the 1860s, after an Bavarian edict of 1813 concerning Jews was repealed, leading to a great increase in Jewish immigration. Doctrinal conflict within the congregation as well as official refusal of financial help complicated the task of funding a replacement building. The new synagogue was finally made possible by King Ludwig II, who arranged in 1882 for the site in Herzog-Max-Straße to be made available to the community. Construction began on 14 February 1884, and the new synagogue was ceremonially inaugurated on 16 September 1887 in the presence of city and kingdom officials, including Prince Luitpold, the regent. The Orthodox faction in the community, who objected to the style of the building and especially to the choir and use of the organ on the Sabbath, had been holding separate prayers since 1876, and on 25 March 1892 inaugurated their own synagogue nearby, in Herzog-Rudolf-Straße.

Munich was the home city of Nazism, and the synagogue in Herzog-Max-Straße was one of the first in Germany to be destroyed after the Nazis came to power. Hitler personally ordered its demolition on 7 June 1938 after visiting the Künstlerhaus, and demolition began on 9 June. Community members had worked all night to remove the Torah scrolls and other items from the synagogue. Buildings at 3 and 5 Herzog-Max-Straße that were also the property of the Jewish community and had housed community offices were used from 1940 for a branch of the SS Lebensborn eugenics programme.

A memorial to the old main synagogue, on the corner of Maxburgstraße, is by Herbert Peters and was unveiled on 9 November 1969. The site of the synagogue was used for parking. It was sold in the 1990s, and is now under the northern extension of the Oberpollinger department store, completed in 2006. The proceeds of the sale contributed to the cost of building a complex of Jewish Centre, Jewish Museum Munich, and new Munich main synagogue, which like the synagogue in Herzog-Rudolf-Straße (destroyed in November 1938) is called Ohel Jakob. The new synagogue was inaugurated on 9 November 2006.

In July 2023, renewal work on flood defences in the River Isar uncovered rubble that was identified from its Hebrew inscriptions as marble from the interior of the old synagogue. The material is believed to have been sunk in the river in the 1950s.

Rabbis

 * 1871–1894: Joseph Perles (previously at the synagogue in Westenriederstraße)
 * 1895–1918: Cossmann Werner
 * 1918–1940: Leo Baerwald