Synagogue

Before the synagogue was built in 1852, there was a prayer room located in the Simon family home.

After the forced dissolution of the synagogue community by the Nazis in 1937, the building was sold and became part of a restaurant. Thus, the building escaped destruction during the November pogrom of 1938 and is preserved to this day.

On June 17, 1903, the former Potsdam synagogue was opened. However, already in 1938 there were the first attacks on the interior of the synagogue. On April 14, 1945, the synagogue roof was destroyed. Until the destruction in the war used as a post office hearing room.

In 1957, the GDR decided to demolish the synagogue. This was because the GDR was not willing to pay the cost of the roof renovation.

The House-Wolfenstein, also called Synagogue-Steglitz, was built in 1897 by Moses Wolfenstein, a Jewish merchant and property owner of Düppelstraße 41 in Steglitz, from former stables. The "Religiöse Verein jüdischer Glaubensgenossen zu Steglitz" used the synagogue for its services in 1897. Before that, other locations such as the Schlosspark restaurant were used for services. When Moses Wolfenstein died on April 8, 1907, the psychiatrist James Fraenkel took over the presidency of the congregation.

From 1945 to 1994, there was an interfaith facility for Christian and Jewish soldiers* in the US Army called Chaplain Center. The first location was Unter den Eichen 78-79 and in 1957 the Jewish community moved to Hüttenweg. There, the congregation shared space with two other Christian congregations. This worked by the different congregations meeting once a month and discussing when who could use the rooms. This was reported by Rabbi Prof. Dr. Andreas Nachama in an interview on August 08, 2019.

Since 2010, the liberal Jewish community Emet weSchalom, founded in Kassel in 1995, has been based in Felsberg. It is committed to the restoration of the synagogue. 

Seligmann Isaak buys the house in 1798 against the resistance of the Aldingen community council and converts it into a house synagogue. By 1799, an extension is completed at the rear, housing the synagogue in the attic. In 1815, the house becomes the property of Veit Löwenthal, whose grandson David sells it in 1872. This ended its use as a synagogue. In 1859, the synagogue was temporarily closed by the Freudental rabbinate, as the Aldingen Jews boycotted the service in order to prevent the introduction of a Reform service with a prayer book in German.

On the square of the synagogue (in the Alte Synagogenstraße) two elements point to the historical place. A plate is embedded in the pavement with the information: "On this plot of land stood the synagogue of the Jewish community of Nordhorn from 1814 until its destruction on November 10, 1938", accompanied by a reconstruction drawing of the synagogue (by Erich Begalke). A memorial stone placed on this site by the Nordhorn City Youth Council in 1968 was lost for several years after it was stolen, but was then reinstalled after it was found.