Community synagogue Lindenstraße (1891-1939) with memorial "Page / Blatt" (1997)

The liberal community synagogue at Lindenstraße 48-50 was built from 1890 onwards according to designs by the Berlin architectural firm Cremer & Wolffenstein. It was completed in 1891 and consecrated on September 27 of the same year. The synagogue was located in the backyard. In the front building there were the rabbi's apartment, various offices of Jewish organizations and a religious school. Only a part of the synagogue's facade was visible from the street. As was typical of Berlin synagogue architecture at the end of the 19th century, it combined Romanesque and late Gothic forms. The synagogue room was a domed central building (iron construction) with an unusual color scheme and a choir loft including a Walcker organ. In the November 1938 pogrom, the interior of the synagogue was partially destroyed, but the building itself was largely preserved and continued to be used for the High Holidays. In October 1939, the synagogue was finally confiscated by the Nazi authorities and misappropriated as a grain warehouse. During the massive bombing of Kreuzberg by the US Air Force on February 3, 1945, both the synagogue building and the front building were destroyed. In June 1956, the state of Berlin (West) finally acquired the property and had the war ruins demolished. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the site was located directly on the American sector border, on the Kreuzberg side of the street, and was only accessible via the sidewalk. In 1988, a first information board was installed. In 1994, BARMER Ersatzkasse finally acquired the site and built - around its historic building (Lindenstraße 44-47) - a modern administrative wing. Today, the former location of the synagogue (Lindenstraße 48-50) is commemorated by the memorial "Page / Seite" designed by Zvi Hecker, Micha Ullman and Eyal Weizman. It is owed to a private competition initiative of the BARMER Ersatzkasse from 1995 and reflects the memories of the place and its history since 1997.