Synagogue

In the Middle Ages, a prayer room or synagogue was present (see above).  
The Jewish community of the 19th/20th century set up a prayer room for services. Since the 1920s, at the latest since 1931, it was located in the building Pauritzer Straße 54 (the address book of the city of 1931 calls here an "Israelite synagogue"). In this building was also the Jewish religious school.  

In 1933, Bankhaus Strupp was nationalized and the Old Synagogue adjacent to the bank building was forcibly demolished.  

Until the beginning of the 19th century, a prayer hall or synagogue was present in each case (e.g. mentioned in 1737 in connection with the formula for the Jewish oath). On August 30, 1811 a synagogue could be consecrated at the western city wall. The ducal court factor Levi Simon had given the money for it and initially purchased two plots of land in the area of Untere Marktstraße with the then census numbers 22 and 23. The inauguration took place with the permission of Duke Frederick. The inauguration speech was held by Josef Michael Hirsch.

In the 19th century, the congregation's services were initially held in rented rooms. In 1870, the congregation purchased a house in Stubenstraße and converted it into a synagogue. Master builder Fütterer initially planned a representative appearance for the front façade. However, since no subsidies came from the government, the plan could not be executed. The synagogue was built in 1872/73 and consecrated on September 10, 1873.

In 1903/04, the Jewish Community built a new synagogue in the former Hohenlohestr. 1 (today Moßlerstraße) in neo-Romanesque style. The architect was Richard Klepzig from Gotha. The synagogue was solemnly consecrated on May 11, 1904 in the presence of Landrabbiner Dr. Prager from Kassel. It was a central building with a turret-crowned dome.

Already in the Middle Ages there was a synagogue ("Judenschule") (named in 1502). 
In the second half of the 19th century, a synagogue (temple) was established (after 1885) in Leipziger Strasse  
. After the end of the First World War, services were held in a back building (upper floor of a side wing) of the then hotel "Kronprinz" on Rossplatz (later "Square of the Republic"). In addition, there were prayer rooms of various Orthodox movements, a larger one (Orthodox synagogue) until 1938 in Hospitalstraße.

A synagogue is verifiable in the first half of the 19th century, but there may already have been a prayer room in the 18th century. The synagogue was located on the Judenhaugk (today on the Schlossberg southwest of the arched gate leading to the Schlossplatz) and was destroyed by fire on June 23, 1858. At that time all the houses around the market place and in the adjacent streets burned down.

The medieval Jewish residential area was located in the area from Ackerhof to Benediktsplatz until the persecution and destruction of the community in the plague period. Here was the synagogue of the Jewish community. The building, which has been preserved until today, is the oldest synagogue in Central Europe preserved up to the roof. During intensive research in recent years, four construction phases of a total of three synagogues could be identified. The visible western facade with the tracery rosette and the pointed arched windows can be dated to the year 1270.

The Jewish community, which re-emerged a few years after the plague pogrom, was able to build a new synagogue in the area of the parking lot behind the town hall (second synagogue). Remains of this synagogue are probably located under this parking lot. In September 2012, the keystone was recovered.

Article in the magazine "Menorah" 1926 issue 9 p. 528: "The synagogue in Ellrich. The many small Jewish communities in Germany, with their peculiar physiognomy, have been increasingly doomed in recent decades. Among them is the community of Ellrich, a small town on the edge of the southern Harz on the shortest route from Hanover to Thuringia. Here, about half a century ago, lived a small but valuable Jewish community.