City walk Luxembourg City

With the creation of Luxembourg's first synagogue, the Seminärsgässel in today's government quarter was to become a decidedly multi-religious place. The building, which had served as a Cistercian monastery of the Ordre de Saint-Bernard until 1797, became the property of the Jewish community in 1821. After the synagogue was solemnly consecrated in 1823, the young Jewish community now had a center of faith adapted to the needs of a modest number of members.

Highlighted at this point is the lively religious coexistence, which significantly shaped the cityscape during the 19th century, but here were three cult sanctuaries very close to each other: cathedral, Trinity Church and until 1894 also the old synagogue. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War initiated a transformation of the Jewish community. The small Grand Duchy turned into a refuge for displaced Jews. In view of the number of Jews who had moved in, the synagogue proved to be too small, and efforts were made as early as 1876 to prepare for the construction of a new synagogue. The building and land in rue du Séminaire - today's rue de la Congrégation - were returned to the City of Luxembourg in exchange for a new plot of land on the corner of rue Aldringen and rue Notre-Dame. It should be particularly emphasized that on the site of the first synagogue, since June 17, 2018, stands the Kaddish Monument.

The second synagogue of Luxembourg was designed and realized under the direction of the Luxembourg State Architect Charles Arendt according to the plans of the German architect and professor Ludwig Levy in the neo-oriental style, modeled on the Moorish-style synagogue of Florence. With regard to architectural particularities, the second synagogue of Luxembourg joins the style of those houses of worship that were built in Europe at the turn of the century. In accordance with the neo-oriental architectural style, it was characterized by a large central dome flanked by two smaller lateral domes, a portal and round-arched windows.

National Socialist invasion and occupation dealt a severe blow to the flourishing Jewish communal life. As a result of repeated aggression against Jews who continued to attend the synagogue in the heart of the occupied city, the Nazi Gauleitung, under the pretext that Jewish worship services posed a threat to public order, ordered the desecration, demolition, and destruction of the synagogue in May 1941. On November 23, 1988, half a century after the November pogroms, a commemorative plaque was placed for the first time on the façade of the Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse - the building constructed on the site of the former synagogue. In cautionary remembrance of the Reichskristallnacht, another commemorative plaque was inaugurated on November 9, 2018, now in three languages to commemorate the sad fate of Luxembourg's second synagogue.

The declared goal of the Jewish Community of Luxembourg after the end of the war was the immediate reconstruction of the Jewish community. At the heart of this endeavor was the question of how to proceed with the reconstruction of the Jewish community without its vital organ - the synagogue. As early as 1946, Minister Nicolas Margue made a commitment on behalf of the government to build a new Jewish house of worship. Although the planning and implementation of the project dragged on for a long time, the cornerstone of the new synagogue was laid on June 12, 1951. The synagogue, located on avenue Monterey, stands out for its decor and monumentality in the middle of the leafy city park. Its architectural style contrasts with the orientalizing construction of the 19th century - in search of a more modern overall impression, the architects chose for the building a rectilinear form of classical inspiration while at the same time trying to give the building stylistic elements that emphasize the character of a religious cultural center. The third synagogue of Luxembourg was inaugurated on June 28, 1953, in the presence of His Royal Highness the then Hereditary Grand Duke Jean, among others. Particularly noteworthy is an excerpt of the speech of the then Minister of Culture Pierre Frieden -

" C'est dans la lumière de la grande histoire juive que la synagogue de Luxembourg, démolie passagèrement par le vandalisme inintelligent qu'engendrait une doctrine d'orgueil et de fanatisme, réapparaît sur le territoire de notre ville et affirme sur terre luxembourgeoise la pérennité d'une pensée et d'une foi qui est depuis plus de trois mille ans une des pierres angulaires de la civilisation humaine. "

"It is in the light of the great Jewish history that the synagogue of Luxembourg - temporarily destroyed by the mindless vandalism that accompanied a fanatical doctrine of arrogance - reappears on the territory of our city, confirming on Luxembourg territory the persistence of a school of thought and faith that has been a cornerstone of human civilization for more than three millennia."

The new Jewish cemetery Bellevue is located on the rue des Cerisiers in the Limpertsberg district. In the days when Luxembourg was a fortress, Limpertsberg was located outside the fortifications behind the glacis. After the demolition of the fortification, according to the regulations of the Treaty of London of 1867, the city could now extend to the Limpertsberg, so that the Cimetière Bellevue could be created in a new district. After the Cimetière Clausen-Malakoff had been completely occupied, the new cemetery was created in 1884. Over the years, the cemetery has been expanded several times and is still in use today, making it the largest Jewish cemetery in Luxembourg.

At this point it is also worth mentioning the Memorial of Honor, which commemorates the Jewish deportees of Luxembourg and is also located on the Cimetière Bellevue. The monument consists of a large boulder of red granite and is surrounded on three sides by hedges. Inaugurated as monument aux morts on October 10, 1954, it commemorates the Jewish victims of the Second World War and reminds viewers of "the numerous deportations of Luxembourg Jews towards the extermination camps who found no grave." The following excerpt from Jeremiah's Lamentations is carved in Hebrew into the base of the monument:

"Regardez et voyez s'il est douleur comme ma douleur qui m'a été infligée."

"Look and see if any pain is like my pain that has struck me." (Lamentations 1:12)

In the district Clausen, in the left slope of the hollow way leading up from the Malakoff tower to the Kirchberg plateau lies, the old Jewish cemetery of Luxembourg. It has not been clarified beyond doubt whether this was actually the first cemetery of the Jewish community of Luxembourg City, because there are speculations that there should have been a Jewish settlement with a cemetery in Luxembourg already around the middle of the 13th century. Further documents about this settlement as well as the cemetery belonging to it are missing, but also about the origin of the Clausen cemetery hardly any documents can be found. The archives of the Israelitisches Konsistorium only show that the cemetery was the property of the Israelitisches Gemeinde in 1824; and it was then used for half a century before it proved to be too small in 1883 - similar to the case of the Old Synagogue due to the Jewish immigration of the 1870s. As a result, the Israelitisches Konsistorium decided to build a new Jewish cemetery on Bellevue in the Limpertsberg district.