Berlin - 12 Lindenufer / 7 Kammerstrasse (Spandau Locality)

Summary: During the years 1855 to 1894, the Jews of Spandau were affiliated with the district synagogue association of Nauen. Prayer services in Spandau were conducted in rented rooms until 1894, when the Spandau Jews established their own community and built a synagogue on the corner of Lindenufer and Kammerstrasse. Inaugurated on September 15, 1895, the synagogue had an octagonal tower and a seating capacity of approximately 300. Many congregants were businessmen; some were lawyers and physicians. Arthur Loewenstamm served as rabbi and teacher from 1917 until 1938. Three welfare organizations were linked to the synagogue: a humanitarian association, and Israelite women’s association, and a charity fund; a local branch of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith also existed in Spandau. We also know that the congregation maintained a cemetery on Neue Bergstrasse (1865), and an old-age home and a rabbi’s apartment on Feldstrasse. The Spandau synagogue was attacked in 1930. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), rioters set the building on fire, destroying its roof and its interior. That same night, the rabbi and the head of the congregation were both injured; Jewish men, including Rabbi Loewenstamm, were arrested and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In May 1939, the congregation was incorporated into the official Jewish Community of Berlin, whose purpose was to oversee Jewish community and religious life in the whole city. Spandau’s Jewish cemetery was closed in 1940, after which those buried there were transferred to Weissensee. The synagogue’s ruins were torn down in or around 1942. A memorial stone was unveiled on Lindenufer after 1988. In 2004, a commemorative plaque on Kammerstrasse was smeared with anti-Semitic slogans.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn Sources: EJL, FJG, SIB, WDJB www.luise-berlin.de, www.kirchenkreis-spandau.de, www.amadeu-antonio-stiftung.d