Joseph Carlebach Square (Hamburg)

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the November pogroms of 1938 the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg inaugurated the "Synagogue Monument" by Margrit Kahl (1942-2009), which was designed as a walk-in square, on November 09, 1988. At Grindel in the district Eimsbüttel in the district Rotherbaum, the memorial sign commemorates the main synagogue of the German-Israelite Community of Hamburg. The memorial square goes back to designs of the artist, which she worked out in 1983 and 1988 on behalf of the Cultural Authority of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The black-and-white photograph by Margrit Kahl dates from 1988. The artist photographically documented her work at various stages - during construction, the inauguration and afterwards - and from different perspectives. The photo selected here is taken from a higher floor of an opposite building on the street Grindelhof. It has been printed on various occasions and can be found in digitized form on the Internet in the photo archive of the Israeli Memorial and Research Site Yad Vashem, prints are in the artist's estate. The photograph documents the remodeled square, including the "Synagogue Monument," which extends over a maximum area of 35.50 by 26.40 meters; the elevated bunker can be seen on the right, and buildings of the University of Hamburg; not in the picture is the Talmud Torah School, which in 1988 was still used by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. Today the square is a part of the university campus. Carlebach was the last chief rabbi in Hamburg before World War II. The square has borne his name only since 1990.

Photo floor mosaic Joseph-Carlebach-Platz (Bornplatz), published in: Hamburg Key Documents on German-Jewish History, <https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-100.de.v1> [Jun 27, 2019].