Rising star - Jewish synagogue in Aachen, Germany - Architecture and Religion

Architectural Review, The, Nov, 1995 by Layla Dawson

Two related spaces to the main synagogue are the side synagogue for a congregation of 25, a square double-height room with two corner vertical slit windows, a standing lectern and tall, narrow freestanding Torah shrine, for smaller congregations on weekdays, and the Mikwe, the religious bath. On specific occasions, before weddings, at conversion, after menstruation and childbirth, or according to individual need, body and soul are cleansed in a controlled mixture of rain and piped water. In spite of its ritual significance, the Mikwe has a prosaic appearance. In a fully tiled basement suite of sanitary fittings, steps lead down into a small pool with a prescribed depth of water for immersion.

Grouped around the circular corridor are two storeys and a basement for community rooms; multi-purpose hall with stage, kosher kitchen with separated milk and meat catering, caretaker's and Rabbi's flats, and secretariat with two social workers to help integrate immigrant members and mediate with local authorities. An open staircase hugging the side of the corridor leads to a library, with international language publications, and a lounge. Rooms are allocated for a youth club, kindergarten, Torah school and community leaders' meetings. These spaces are no different from those in any other social institution with modern furniture, white plastered walls and oak floors, but one is always aware of the synagogue, the religious heart. Circulation and rooms rotate around this fixed point.

Churches are also no longer kept open, for fear of vandalism, but revived neo-Nazi and xenophobic movements, arson and letter bombs, make the problem for synagogues even greater. Visitors must make appointments. Even community activities have set times.

Building a synagogue in Germany today involves many contradictions. It is an act of healing and remembrance, carried out in defiance of the past, an act of survival. While building for the future with cautious optimism, history's lessons cannot afford to be forgotten.