Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The independent city of Frankfurt allowed Jews to live there from 1150. The persecutions of 1241 and 1349 marked the end of this era. In 1360, under the framework of Stättigkeit (Jewish regulations in the city), Jewish families were again permitted to settle in Frankfurt. In 1464, the Jews of Frankfurt were allocated an area within the city limits, where the Judengasse, the Frankfurt ghetto, later emerged. Here lived the Frankfurt Jews – with a break due to the Fat Milk Riots (1614–1616) until the time of emancipation. After the establishment of civil equality in 1864, they gradually moved to other parts of Frankfurt.

In 1720, the moneylender Mayer Amschel Rothschild, his wife Gutle, and their eighteen children moved into one of the houses in this area. Mayer’s success and the dispersion of his large family across Europe created the powerful financial network of this famous family. Unfortunately, the bombings of 1945 and the post-war reconstruction of the city center erased all traces of this former Jewish quarter. By 1933, the Frankfurt community numbered more than 30,000 members. Most of them were organized into a community. Over twelve years of Nazism, Jewish life in the city was destroyed. Many community members managed to leave Germany in time. Nevertheless, about 12,000 Frankfurt Jews perished violently in Nazi death camps.

The most spacious and prestigious synagogue in Frankfurt is the Westend Synagogue, belonging to the liberal movement. Between 1908 and 1910, Franz Rokle completed the construction of the impressive building at Freiherr-vom-Stein-Strasse 30-32, featuring a domed central structure in the Egyptian-Assyrian style. On both sides are adjoining buildings of varying heights, built from shell limestone. The pediment on the facade is decorated with a medallion showing a stylized heraldic lion holding a shield with the Star of David in its paw. The entrance is formed by a low domed portal leading to a courtyard with a fountain. The richly decorated interior is dominated by blue and gold colors, with the most elaborate design reserved for the central and eastern naves, where the bimah (the raised platform from which the Torah is read) and the Torah ark are located. In addition to the main sanctuary, which seats 1,000, there are offices, apartments, a synagogue for liberal services, and a prayer room also used by Chabad Talmud students as a classroom.

The synagogue was built for the liberal community, whose members increasingly settled in the West End at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Orthodox services are held in the large main sanctuary, but each Jewish group within the Frankfurt community has its own space within this building.

The synagogue survived not only the November Pogrom of 1938 (the only one preserved among the four largest synagogues in the city) but also the Allied bombing of the city. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 1945, Rabbi Leopold Neuhaus organized prayers there with the few survivors and American Jews from units stationed in Frankfurt.

In 1948, the city and region committed to financing a large-scale reconstruction of the synagogue. Since the Westend Synagogue survived the war relatively unscathed, architects Max Kemper and Werner Hebebrand, along with graphic artist Hans Leistikov, were able to complete the reconstruction work between 1948 and 1950. Since 1950, prayers have been regularly held in the synagogue. The exterior facade was first restored between 1980 and 1984. Further work was carried out from 1988 to 1994, with architect Henrik Isenberg responsible for restoring the original interior.

https://www.lbi.org/griffinger/record/208326

http://en.juedisches-frankfurt.de/places/the-westend-synagogue

https://jguideeurope.org/en/region/germany/the-rhineland-and-bavaria/frankfurt-am-main/

https://www.jg-ffm.de/de/kultur_bildung/synagogen-fuehrungen