Alter Synagogenplatz
Alter Synagogenplatz lies in Heidelberg’s Old Town as a memorial to the Jewish community and the synagogue once standing here. White marble stones trace the building’s footprint, while grey granite marks its windows and entrance door.
Hermann Behaghel designed the synagogue, built between 1877 and 1878 after the prayer house Zur blauen Lilie became too small. Nazi storm troopers burned it during the November pogroms of 1938, and the Jewish community later had to pay for removing its remains. The site became a park in 1978, then a memorial in 2001 through cooperation between Heidelberg and a citizens’ initiative.
Twelve sandstone cubes represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the synagogue’s former benches. Plaques around the square list Jewish residents expelled, deported or murdered during the Nazi era, while a memorial stone marks the former Torah shrine.
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