Fraenkelufer 10-16
10999 Berlin
Germany
The community synagogue built in 1913-16 on Kottbusser Ufer, today Fraenkelufer, consisted of a main building to which several annexes were attached. The building complex, which had room for about 2,000 people, also included the weekday synagogue, a room for youth services, and service apartments for the synagogue staff. As early as 1930, the synagogue was smeared with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans. Like many other synagogues, this one was set on fire and severely damaged by Nazis during the November pogrom on the night of November 9/10, 1938. The police and the fire department did not extinguish the fire, but were careful that it did not spread to the neighboring school. The ruins of the main building, destroyed by demolition bombs in 1944, were finally demolished in 1958/59. The adjoining building with the youth synagogue, in which congregational services were still held until October 1942, was largely preserved.
It was there, in the youth synagogue, which had to be restored, that the first service was celebrated again on September 8, 1945, on the occasion of the Jewish New Year (Rosh ha-Shanah). After reconstruction, the building was finally rededicated as a Conservative community synagogue on Fraenkelufer on April 22, 1959. To this day it is one of the eight synagogue congregations under the umbrella of the Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin. From the 1990s, the congregation grew increasingly and became more diverse. In 2012, the association "Freunde der Synagoge Fraenkelufer e.V." was founded for this purpose, in 2018 also the Förderverein "Jüdisches Zentrum Synagoge Fraenkelufer e.V.", which is committed to the reconstruction of the historic synagogue. The foundation stone is to be laid in 2023, and the inauguration is planned for 2026. The community center will then also house a daycare center and a café and offer space for concerts and events.
