Star in the east: paradoxically, Jewish communities in Germany are now thriving and recent new synagogues, such as this one in Chemnitz, also encompass social and cultural aspects

Architectural Review, The, March, 2003 by Layla Dawson

Who would have believed that after 1945 there would be a boom in German synagogues? East European immigrants have swelled the numbers of previously dying congregations. Chemnitz, once known as the Manchester of the East, a dour manufacturing centre where Erich Mendelsohn designed the Schocken department store, is now an economically depressed region of high unemployment. But despite this, the city's small Jewish community has grown, from 12 to 550 since 1989, and, in an act of unrivalled optimism, it has built a new religious and cultural centre.

Alfred Jacoby, director of Dessau's Institute of Architecture, has completed eight Jewish projects in recent years. More than spaces for worship, these are meeting places for the high proportion of pensioners and unemployed who find company among other Russian speakers, with rooms for youth groups and Makkabi Jewish sports association, parties, performances, language and religious classes. As potential victims of racism, their buildings also must deal with security. In Chemnitz a protective margin, patrolled by police, is created by a landscaped forecourt and pool around the synagogue which guides visitors to the entrance where they are inspected from a security office window. The architectural task is to combine ritual, representative and domestic functions. Through a foyer, fully enveloped in glass and acting as a transparent hub, these diverse activities intermingle. The multi-purpose hall, with its kosher catering kitchen, can form a single fluid space with the foyer by the simple removal of a partition w all. A fan-shaped library, a reference to Aalto, extends into the garden and, with a curved open stairway, leads up to a balcony lounge. This space, in turn, overlooks the foyer and connects by a bridge to the seating gallery in the drum of the synagogue. Another wing contains cellular rooms around an internal open-air courtyard for the Sukka festival. In the basement there is a Mikwe, a ritual bathing suite.

The oval synagogue sits like a jewel in a glass case. Its outward leaning walls culminate in a stained glass crown, a Keta Tora, optimizing daylight and symbolizing the embracing Talit prayer shawl. The biblically significant blue and white typographic pattern plays on the Hebrew characters for 'life'. As with all living creatures, no two characters are identical. At night, the crown and vertical stained glass window glow like a beacon, publicly demonstrating a Jewish presence in a historically intolerant environment, a recurring motif in Jacoby's architecture, for instance his synagogue in Aachen (AR November 1995).

The three important elements in every synagogue (an Aron-Ha-Kodesh for the Torah rolls, an Almemor pulpit, and separate seating for women), are all present but, in keeping with contemporary liberal doctrine, are translated into modern terms. Contrary to tradition, the focal Torah cupboard is asymmetrically placed, shifting the congregation's focus to a window leading out into the world beyond. This reinforces the belief of community leader Siegmund Rotstein (a Holocaust survivor) that Jews must communicate to widen understanding with non-Jews. What is traditionally a richly decorated curtain drawn across the front of a Torah cupboard is here made part of the structure itself. An Yves Klein blue material is stretched over a frame to form a storage space with doors. The Menorah light is a free-standing translucent pylon light and the Star of David is translated into two hanging lamps constructed like Japanese lanterns of white parchment. Minimal building materials, such as glass, steel and fair-faced concrete, form neutral backdrops for the blue accented features, and the singular luxurious material, a natural rich green Swiss stone, which is used externally and on foyer walls.

The current site was exchanged for land that housed the town's original 1899 Romanesque style synagogue (destroyed by the Nazis). An agreement was negotiated with the old GDR government, which encouraged the Jewish community to survive post-war. With a budget of 4.5 million Euros from government and private donations, Chemnitz has finally achieved a modest but inspiring replacement synagogue.

RELATED ARTICLE: Architect

Alfred Jacoby, Frankfurt am Main

Associate architect

Monika Finger

Lighting

Serien, Jean-Marc Da Costa and Manfred Wolf

Stained glass

Johannes Schreiter

Landscape architect

Ulrike Stockert

Photographs

Werner Huthmacher