Ahavas Shalom Synagogue

The origins of this small synagogue go back to 1851, when a group of Jewish families who worshipped at a smaller location (197 Lilienstrasse) decided to build a larger synagogue for their growing congregation. On the initiative of the Borower family, who bore all the expenses, the Orthodox Ahavas Shalom synagogue was built at 10 Kleine Auguststrasse; however, the synagogue’s exact date of construction and inauguration cannot be ascertained. The size of the building’s plot and the existing photos of the inauguration celebrations suggest that the synagogue accommodated no more that 50 or so male worshippers, and slightly fewer than that in the ladies’ gallery. Nevertheless, the congregation was able to employ a rabbi throughout its existence. In later years, the Mogen David congregation, members of which had previously used a small synagogue attached to the seminary for rabbis on Gipsstrasse, transferred their Torah scrolls to the Kleine Auguststrasse synagogue and joined the Ahavas Shalom congregation. The Kleine Auguststrasse synagogue building was destroyed on Pogrom Night (November 1938). The ruins were demolished after 1945, and the site is now an empty plot.
Harold Slutzkin
Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

Notes

Sources: Synagogen in Berlin: Zur Geschichte einer zerstörten Architektur, Rolf Bothe [Ed.], [publisher] Willmürth Arenhövel, 1983., Guide to Jewish Berlin: History and the Present, Vera Bendt, Nicola Galliner Thomas Jersch, Stefi Jersch-Wenzel, Carolin Hilker-Siebenhaar [Ed.], [Publisher] Verlag Nicolai, 1987.

Details

Date Added Jan 22, 2020
Category Synagogue
Country DE
State Berlin
City Berlin
Exhibits Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

Have additional information, photos, connections, or other resources to contribute?

Help Us in the race against time to time document Jewish history!

Share