• Growing Memory. Memorial to the former Synagogue Eberswalde
Since 2012 the memorial »Growing Memory. Memorial to the former Synagogue Eberswalde« on the former site of the Eberswalde synagogue remembers the former Jewish community and their place of worship. Between 1933 and 1945 the National Socialists expelled or deported almost all of the city's Jews.
Image: Eberswalde, about 1900, Arial view of the synagogue, Museum Eberswalde
Eberswalde, about 1900, Arial view of the synagogue, Museum Eberswalde

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Jews settled in Eberswalde as early as the 14th century. Expelled from Brandenburg in the 16th century, Jews began to resettle in the city again in the 17th/18th century. In the 19th century the Jewish community comprised of approximately 200 members and in 1891 they consecrated a spacious synagogue built in Moorish style. In the 20th century the Jewish community continued to grow; by 1929 about 300 Jews lived in Eberswalde. The synagogue was a magnificent building with blue and white tiles and three domes. Lightning damaged the building in 1931, many Eberswalde citizens helped to extinguish the fire. The place of worship could be restored and was consecrated again one year later. After the National Socialist's rise to power in 1933 Jews were gradually excluded from the public sphere, discriminating laws made it impossible to live a regular life. Until 1938 90% of the Eberswalde Jews emigrated. During the Kristallnacht 1938 National Socialists set fire to the synagogue, Jews were attacked and arrested. The synagogue burned to the ground. The National Socialists forced the community to clear the ruins. The same year the Jewish owner of a copper and brass factory had to sell his company to »Arians«. Many more Jews fled Germany. The remaining Jews had to resettle to so called Judenhäuser (Jewish houses). In 1942 the SS deported the last Jews from Eberswalde to the extermination camps in the occupied East.
Image: Eberswalde, about 1900, Arial view of the synagogue, Museum Eberswalde
Eberswalde, about 1900, Arial view of the synagogue, Museum Eberswalde

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The exact number of Jewish victims from Eberswalde is unknown. At least 46 Jews from Eberswalde perished because of the persecution by the National Socialists.
Image: Eberswalde, 2012, Arial view of the excavated synagogue foundations, MOZ, Thomas Burckhardt
Eberswalde, 2012, Arial view of the excavated synagogue foundations, MOZ, Thomas Burckhardt

Image: Eberswalde, 2012, Interior of the memorial, Christine Wolter
Eberswalde, 2012, Interior of the memorial, Christine Wolter
After the war there lived no Jews anymore in Eberswalde. The site of the former synagogue was covered with buildings. The old Jewish cemetery fell into decay and several times became victim to vandalism. At the end of the 1980s the cemetery was renovated. Since 1966 a memorial plaque at the former site of the synagogue remembers the fate of the Jewish community. Mounted to the wall of the fire brigade building it was dedicated on November 9, 1966 by the city's mayor.
In 2010 the city of Eberswalde commissioned the artists Horst Hoheisel and Andreas Knitz to create a new memorial for the synagogue and the Jewish community of Eberswalde. The memorial was dedicated on November 22, 2012: After the old foundation of the synagogue had been excavated, concrete walls now trace the former layout of synagogue building. Trees were planted in the interior space which keep growing. The work of art thereby denotes a void and the absence of the synagogue and at the same time something new and developing, which is never completed. The interior remains inaccessible. On the exterior walls plaques are mounted. Alongside an information text there is a psalm: »That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children.« (Psalm 78:6).
Image: Eberswalde, 2012, Memorial plaque from the GDR era, Christine Wolter
Eberswalde, 2012, Memorial plaque from the GDR era, Christine Wolter

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Name
Wachsen-mit-Erinnerung. Denkmal der ehemaligen Synagoge Eberswalde
Address
Goethestraße 9
16225 Eberswalde
Phone
+49 (0) 3334 64-410
Fax
+49 (0) 3334 64-419
E-Mail
s.neubacher@eberswalde.de
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.