Residential building Spiegelstraße 56 (1886) with Star of David

The hexagram is known since ancient times as a - not originally Jewish - symbol for the defense of Bösem. The legendary King David is said to have carried it on his shield, and so explains the common name "Star of David" or actually "Shield of David" (Hebrew Magen David).

In Halberstadt there are - to this day - several houses whose facade is decorated with a Star of David. Since the late 19th century as the logo of the national Jewish (Zionist) movement, it may have testified in the majority neo-orthodox Halberstadt community, however, rather of the self-confidence of Jewish homeowners and residents.

So were first various buildings of the Jüdische community by a Star of David outwardly recognizable as Jüdisch: the Klaussynagoge (Rosenwinkel 18), the school building of the "Hascharat Zwi" (Westendorf 15a), the mourning hall on the youngest of the three Jewish cemeteries (Klein Quenstedter Chaussee) or the "Casino" of the Jewish Lodge and Associations (Walter-Rathenau-Straße 65). This also applied to private individuals: in 1901, the Hirsch family of entrepreneurs had a wrought-iron decoration made of Stars of David designed for the new enclosure of their house at Unter den Weiden 3.

Finally, a Star of David can also be found on the gable of the residential building at Spiegelstraße 56. When and why the unusual ornament was placed there, however, is unclear. The files in the Halberstadt building archives only show that the builder and long-time owner of the building, contractor Römert, originally wanted the year of construction 1886 to be noted on the facade. Römert himself, moreover, was not young. Whether the construction drawings were thus changed again, or whether the Star of David was attached there subsequently, remains in the darkness of history...