Prayer Room

In the Middle Ages there may have been a prayer room or synagogue, of which nothing more is known. After the number of Jewish families increased in the second half of the 19th century, prayer rooms were first used in Jewish residential houses. First in Eichel's house (Hauptmarkt 36), then in Liebenstein's house (Schwabhäuser Straße 6) and from 1877 in Rudolph's house (Siebleber Straße 8).

Hermann Gerson, who was for a time the head of the small Jewish community, set up a prayer room in his residential and commercial building. How long the prayer room was used as such is not known. The building still stands today.   

After a few years, the prayer room at Jacobsplan 19 became too small. On holidays, the service was moved to the inn "Zum Löwen" in Marienstraße.

In the 19th century, after the establishment of the Jewish community, a prayer hall could be inaugurated already on September 30, 1864. Until then the services had taken place in private houses of Jewish families, among others in the house of the solver Herz Kayser in Georgenstraße. The prayer hall was located in the rear building of the house Jacobsplan 19, which had been purchased by the community. 

In the 19th century, after the establishment of the Jewish community, a prayer hall could already be inaugurated on September 30, 1864. Until then, services had taken place in private homes of Jewish families, including the house of the solver Herz Kayser in Georgenstraße.

First there was a prayer room in each case (already in the 16th century, then again in the 18th century). 

In the 18th century, a prayer hall was established in the so-called "Judenbau."

In the second half of the 19th century, between 1874 and 1877, a first prayer hall could be established in the house of the family of the first community leader Julius Jonas, which was a "friendly, large" hall (report above from 1877). In 1877 there were already three Torah scrolls in the community. The prayer hall was in the house Ritterstraße 7 (building still exists).

An actual synagogue did not exist. From 1901 to 1925 there was a prayer room of the "Israelitische Vereinigung" on the upper floor of the house of the "Bürgerverein" (after 1945: "Volkshaus"). The building in which the prayer room was located was demolished in 1993. The Apolda town hall was built on the site. After the mid-1920s, there was no longer any organized Jewish community life in Apolda.

1418 lived in Altenburg 14 men considered as taxpayers.
. Eight of them supported themselves - on a small scale - from the money trade. Also a butcher selling only to Jews (Fleischsnider of the Jews) is mentioned. In this period the Jewish families formed a small community, which probably had a prayer room (synagogue) in Johannisgasse (probably in today's Johannisstraße 31). After 1430, the Jews of Altenburg were probably expelled. In the middle of the 15th century, no Jews lived in the city anymore.