Juri-Gagarin-Ring 16
99084 Erfurt
Germany
For the new building of the large synagogue at the Kartäuserring the Erfurt synagogue municipality had been able to win the Frankfurt architect Siegfried Kusnitzky, who designed approximately at the same time also the synagogue at the Börneplatz in Frankfurt/Main.
On September 4, 1884, the magnificent brick building was inaugurated. The Erfurt rabbi Dr. Theodor Kroner presided over the festivities.
The Great Synagogue had room for about 500 people, was richly decorated inside, adorned with colorful paintings and even had an organ. It now formed the center of the community for 54 years - until the November pogrom: on the night of November 9-10, 1938, SA teams looted and vandalized the synagogue and then set it on fire. The synagogue community was charged the cost of RM 6,900 for the demolition of the ruins and the fencing of the property. The city acquired it in 1939 for RM 15,000 and built a wooden shed on the site in 1940 to store coke.
A newly built synagogue was consecrated on the site of the destroyed synagogue on August 31, 1952, the only one built in the territory of the former GDR. Last use: synagogue with community center