Germany: Citizens’ group seeks to restore the 18th century village synagogue in Mühlhausen, Bavaria, as a memorial and educational center

A citizens’ group in the village of Mühlhausen, near Erlangen in Bavaria’s Franconia region, has purchased the village’s ravaged 18th century synagogue and hopes to restore it as a memorial and educational center as well as a cultural space.

Built in 1755/56 (and restructured in 1833), the synagogue is one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Bavaria, and one of the few built in Baroque style.

The building housed a rabbi’s  or teacher’s apartment and school as well as the sanctuary, which was decorated with magnificent frescoes and stucco work — vibrant traces of them remain. It was desecrated and devastated, but not destroyed, on Kristallnacht in 1938. It was then used as a barn, warehouse, and workshop, and until recently a garage and storage space — a big barn door was cut into the side of the building.

“Our association has owned the building since November 2019,” Christian Plätzer, chair of the recently established Old Synagogue Mühlhausen Forum, told JHE.

We financed the purchase with donations and private loans. Before we can start the actual restoration and plan funding for it, the synagogue must first be thoroughly examined by experts. This is happening right now.

He added, “Our current schedule for 2020 has been a bit mixed up due to the corona pandemic, but we have achieved a lot.”

Already this summer, a group of students from the University in Bamberg carried out a detailed digital survey of the synagogue as part of their master’s degree program in monument preservation.   

Researchers also found a geniza in the attic — experts from the geniza project in Veitshöchheim are working to recover the material. 

“A professional building researcher and a restorer are currently exploring the building,” Plätzer said. “They will have plans in place by January 2021. Then we can talk to the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments about the further measures.”

The Forum was established in autumn 2018 by a group of people in Mühlhausen who describe themselves as “interested in history; members and friends of the Jewish community in Erlangen and people from near and far for whom the memory of the Jewish past in our region is an important concern.”

Their goals are directly inspired, and aimed at carrying on, the work of the late Johann Fleischmann, a Mühlhausen engineer and local historian who devoted more than two decades to researching, documenting, and publishing on the Jewish history of Mühlhausen and other Franconian villages.

Fleischmann — who died in 2013 — received a number of awards for his work, including in 2006 the Obermayer German Jewish History Award, presented annually to Germans “who have documented, commemorated, and breathed new life into Jewish communities that were destroyed by the Nazis, as well as innovators who have found creative ways to use the lessons of history to prevent contemporary bigotry and foster understanding among different groups.”

The awards, established in 2000 by the late American entrepreneur and philanthropist Arthur Obermayer, who died in 2016,  are presented each January at a ceremony in the Germany Parliament, marking the Parliament’s annual observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“My commitment is to keep the Jewish past alive,” Fleischmann was quoted as saying on the Obermayer award web site. “I hope I can impart to others what is important to me: that we have lost something truly valuable with the demise of our Jewish citizens.”

Access the Old Synagogue Mühlhausen Forum web site

Read about Johann Fleishmann and his work on the Obermayer award web site

Read about the synagogue and Jewish community on the Alemannia-Judaica web site