Berlin - 41 Dueppelstrasse, Wolfstein Synagogue (Steglitz Locality)

Summary: 41 Dueppelstrasse, Wolfstein Synagogue (Steglitz Locality, Berlin) The synagogue association of the Steglitz area of Berlin was established in 1874 at the initiative of Moses Wolfenstein, the Jewish owner of a large, local clothing store. Services were conducted in private residences until 1897, when Mr. Wolfenstein had a small synagogue built in the rear of a building he owned at 41, Dueppelstrasse. Accordingly, the synagogue became known as the Wolfenstein synagogue. The services were traditional. When the synagogue became too crowded, as often happened on holidays, overflow services had to be held in The interior of the synagogue on Fasanenstrasse after Pogrom Night, November 1938. Courtesy of: Federal Archives of Germany, Art. No. 147-1118. a nearby auditorium. Plans for the construction of a larger synagogue were drawn up in 1922, but were dropped amid the hyperinflation of the Weimar period. The local authorities gave the green light for the burning of the Dueppelstrasse synagogue on Pogrom Night (November 1938) but, at the last minute, the owner of the neighboring furniture factory intervened and managed to persuade them to spare the building. Instead, the synagogue was plundered and ransacked. Luckily, the Torah scrolls had been removed two days before the pogrom. After the war, the synagogue building was converted into a restaurant and ice cream parlor. The Steglitz locality has memorialized the synagogue and its founder by renaming a nearby street Wolfensteindamm.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel; Sources: SIB, WDJB; www.luise-berlin.de