The Old Synagogue of Sankt Goar

The Old Synagogue of Sankt Goar

Sankt Goar (or St. Goar) is a small town in the western part of Germany, located in the province of Rhineland-Pfalz few kilometers southeast from the city of Koblenz

Location of St. Goar on the map of Germany.

In the past Sankt Goar was home to a small Jewish community whose synagogue used to be located in the eastern half of the town on one of the main streets.

The last synagogue of the town has been destroyed during the Second World War with only the foundations' corner stones remaining. After the end of the war a new building was erected on the place of the former synagogue. Despite of the newer construction, the original corner stones (which can be seen on the photo right below, which was made by one of our members) are still preserved.

The preserved corner stones of the old synagogue.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Belomancy (Divination by Arrows) - A Biblical Perspective

Image
Belomancy (Divination by Arrows) - A Biblical Perspective Relying on different types of divination and other superstitions when making important decisions is a very well documented phenomenon throughout history. Monarchs are not an exception from that, and many have made terrible decisions when doing so. While we know that God, our Lord, forbade the practice of divination and fortune telling, it, sadly, has ot stopped rulers of different states from 'employing' it. Relief depicting Nebucgadnezzer II with a bow and arrow. This was also the case in the Ancient Middle East in the times of the Tanakh/Old Testament. The Biblical text tells us how the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar made an incredibly important decision. In Ezekiel 21 we read the following: "For the king of Babylon standeth at the parting of the way, by the heads of the two ways, to use divination; he shaketh the arrows to and fro, he inquireth of the teraphim, he looketh in the liver." (Ezekiel 21:21) This...
Read more

The Andernach Synagogue memorial got destroyed?

The Andernach Synagogue memorial got destroyed? Some of our German members informed us of a terrible act which took place in the small town of Andernach. The memorial of the local synagogue has been demolished and the space surrounding it repurposed into a "private" fenced lot. The memorial in question was erected after the end of the Second World War in order to commemorate the local Holocaust victims and their demolished synagogue. Sadly, some people do not respect history and memory and do such terrible acts. As far as we have been informed, they have submitted a signal regarding this to the local authorities.
Read more

The Early History of the Jewish Community of St. Goar

Image
The Early History of the Jewish Community of St. Goar Jews are known to have lived in the German town of Sankt Goar (ot St. Goar) as early as the Middle Ages. In 1383 there was at least one single Jew living there. He is known to have had probably moved to St. Goar from Düren. He was known to have been a moneylender by profession. In the fifteenth century, too, the town was documented to have had Jewish inhabitants. In 1410, count Johann IV von Katzenelnbogen collected special annual taxes from the local Jews. In 1419, the same count Johan IV forced a local Jewish moneylender and his wife, by the means of imprisonment and false convictions, to renounce all their claims to the local Christians' debts. One of the most famous Sankt-Goar-ian Jews was Salman von Sankt Goar, who was a disciple of the highly esteemed rabbi Maharil (born 1375 in Mainz, died 1427 in Worms). In the sixteenth century, a single Jewish resident is mentioned in Sankt Goar in the year 1544. Location of St. G...
Read more