Obertorstraße 33
36381 Schlüchtern
Germany
It is not known whether there was already a prayer hall or a synagogue in the Middle Ages.
In the second half of the 17th century (before 1671) a synagogue was built at the Obertor (Obertorstraße 33). It was a half-timbered building with a hall storey, gable roof, crippled hipped roofs and six large round-arched windows 3.40 meters high. In 1837, the building was rebuilt and a women's gallery was added to the upper floor. Until 1895, this synagogue was used.
After the old synagogue had become too small and no longer met the needs of the community, a new synagogue was built in the area of Grabenstraße / Weitzelstraße from 1896 to 1898. Before the construction, the old city moat had been filled in at this location. The inauguration was on 26/27 August 1898.
During the November pogrom in 1938, the synagogue was desecrated, its interior furnishings destroyed. The objects of worship of the synagogue were burned.
From 1939 to 1945, the former synagogue was misused as a warehouse. From 1945 to 1946, the building was restored by order of the American military government. From 1950 to 1969, it housed a clothing factory. When it was converted into a factory, a concrete ceiling was added at the level of the former women's gallery. From 1970 to 1993, the Weitzel Library was in the synagogue building, as well as a room for cultural events. A renovation took place in 1995. Since the completion of this renovation, the former synagogue has served as the city's "House of Culture". The first floor area is used as a gallery for exhibitions, author readings, lectures and seminars. On the upper floor (the upper hall has 115 seats), theater evenings, cabaret or classical concerts are regularly held under the domed roof. For this purpose, the cultural cinema association of the city (Kuki) operates a cinema.
In 1998, the centenary of the synagogue building was celebrated with a commemorative ceremony. A little later, a mesusah was placed at the entrance gate by a visiting group of former Jewish residents of Schlüchtern.
The old synagogue at the Obertor was still used as a storage room in the 1960s and demolished in 1978.
