The project is initiated and led by Dr. Marc Grellert, head of the Digital Reconstruction research group in the Digital Design department. The aim is to highlight the cultural loss and beauty of the synagogue architecture that once existed in Germany, but also to honor its former significance for the cityscape. The idea arose in 1994 after an arson attack by neo-nazis on the synagogue in Lübeck. The attack was to be countered with a sign against anti-semitism by making destroyed synagogues visible. At the same time, the project wanted to contribute to the commemoration of the Shoah. In view of the growing threat of anti-semitism and increasing ignorance about the Nazi era, the project has lost none of its social relevance.

Over time, more than 40 synagogues have been virtually reconstructed by the Digital Design department and Architectura Virtualis, a cooperation partner of TU Darmstadt. Another ten are in the works and are expected to be added to the collection over the next two years. The new website features both smaller rural synagogues and large urban places of worship. The collection of virtual synagogues also provides an overview of different styles and liturgical orientations and offers users the opportunity to learn about Jewish sacred buildings in general. In addition to synagogues that were destroyed during the Nazi era, the virtual reconstructions also include the medieval synagogues in Cologne, Worms, and Speyer, as well as the Baroque places of worship in Horb and Frankfurt's Judengasse.

The current focus of the work is the subproject “Synagogen im Rhein-Main-Gebiet”: 13 synagogues from Frankfurt, Darmstadt, and Mainz are to be virtually reconstructed. The first results can already be seen on the new website. Here, students from the Department of Architecture are initially reconstructing synagogues. The team from the Department of Digital Design then takes over their results and continues to develop them professionally. The project thus offers students the opportunity to learn digital skills in socially relevant subject areas. The project sees itself as a contribution to the fight against anti-semitism and is dedicated to making Jewish life visible. In this way, it brings these topics into university teaching and gives young people the opportunity to actively participate in the culture of remembrance using the digital tools of the 21st century.

In addition, three further synagogues in Hesse are currently being virtually reconstructed in cooperation with Goethe University Frankfurt. These reconstructions are part of the “Synagogen-Gedenkbuch Hessen” project sponsored by the Hessian state government and the Protestant and Catholic churches, which is being carried out by the Buber-Rosenzweig Institute for Jewish Intellectual and Cultural History of the Modern and Contemporary Period.

The site will officially go online on November 9, the anniversary of the November pogroms of 1938. The launch date is also a symbol and a piece of remembrance culture. In the future, all newly reconstructed synagogues will also be featured on the website.

Grellert/mih