Burned in Alsfeld!Alsfeld synagogue set on fire on the night of the Reich pogroms

As early as the 14th century, there were isolated Jews living in Alsfeld. After the foundation of a Jewish community at the beginning of the 19th century, a synagogue was established in Metzgergasse. This was replaced in 1904/1905 by a large, representative new building in Lutherstraße, which with about 350 seats was admittedly oversized for the size of the community at that time (about 220 people). During the November pogroms of 1938, the windows of the synagogue were broken on the evening of November 9 and the interior set on fire.

On the morning of November 10, 1938, the extent of the fire became apparent. Some of the outer walls of the synagogue were still intact, but the interior was badly damaged. Members of the Alsfeld Historical and Antiquities Society rescued the synagogue’s Torah shrine, which had suffered little damage, and the Torah scroll from the rubble.

These valuable exhibits are still in the inventory of the town museum. What was a reason for rejoicing according to the inhuman Nazi ideology at that time, belongs for us today to the darkest chapter of German history.

A memorial plaque at the former location at the corner of Lutherstraße/Hinter der Mauer today bears the inscription: “Here stood the synagogue, inaugurated in 1905, destroyed on 9.11.1938 by National Socialist terror. The sufferings of the Jewish people call for the defense of human rights, resistance to violence and the lawless persecution of dissenters.” CCDG