Synagogue Norderney

Since the end of the 1850s, there was a prayer room in the restoration of Abraham van der Wall. In 1859, in his advertisements appearing in Jewish periodicals, the remark is found for the first time: "Also a suitable prayer room, provided with a Torah, is prepared."
   
In the 1870s, there were efforts among the Jewish spa guests to establish a synagogue. In 1874 there was a first request of several Israelites to the Ministry of Finance in Berlin to promote the construction of a synagogue on Norderney for the Jews visiting the seaside resort there. They wanted to be provided with a plot of land for this purpose. However, the request was rejected. In 1877, a committee was formed to promote the building of the synagogue, chaired by merchant Moritz Bargebuhr from Harburg and Dr. David Rosin from Breslau (lecturer at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau).    
  
The committee's efforts this time - but only after overcoming numerous bureaucratic obstacles - led to success. The main difficulty was that Norderney did not have the status of an independent Jewish community. In the course of 1878, the synagogue could then be built and inaugurated on August 9, 1878, in the presence of Justice Minister Dr. Adolf Leonhardt from Berlin.   
Services were held in the synagogue only during the spa season (May to September). Available reports emphasize that services were even held twice a day and there were no problems with the minyan (ten Jewish men at the service).   
  
After 1933, with the forced absence of Jewish spa guests, services could no longer be held in the synagogue. The building was sold to a non-Jewish hardware dealer for RM 3,500 on July 11, 1938, and thus escaped destruction in the November 1938 pogrom. The building was then converted into a storage room.      

After 1945, the synagogue building was misused as a discotheque, Argentinian steakhouse and later as an Italian restaurant. Since April 2000, the building has housed a restaurant for regional specialties (restaurant "de Leckerbeck", website). Due to several reconstructions, only the northern wall of the building is preserved in its original state. 
   
Since 1996 there is - due to an initiative of the Protestant Youth of Norderney - a memorial plaque on the facade with the inscription: "Former synagogue (1878-1933). This building was erected as a prayer house for Jewish citizens and guests. Sold in July 1938, it escaped destruction in the pogrom night of 09 November of that year. In memory and remembrance."