Downtown
March 2017 © Thomas Kleissl
15, Sillgasse
The furniture of the Synagogue in the backhouse at 15, Sillgasse, then Straße der Sudetendeutschen, was demolished and given to the janitor as fuel. The Thora rolls were saved.
At 15, Sillgasse lived the 98-year-old Berta Dannhauser, née Kleiner, who was pushed down the stairs. Her late husband, Wilhelm Dannhauser, was co-founder of the Israelite Community and the only Jewish district councillor in Innsbruck (1872 – 1896)
Synagogue
Since 1910 the Synagogue had been located in an annex of the building in Straße der Sudetendeutschen and it accomodated about 200 persons. For years the community gathered in a praying room in 7, Anichstraße, owned by family Brüll. The rabbi of Hohenems Josef Link moved to Innsbruck in 1914, where he was appointed to the rabbi of Tyrol and Voarlberg. He fulfilled this task until his death on November 7th, 1932. Dr. Elimelech Rimalt, his successor, was a native of Poland and conducted the last congregation at Rosch Ha-Schana in September 1938. In October he moved to Vienna with his family. With the takover of the National Socialists in March 1938 the chicaneries against the Jewish Community and families started. After the pogrom night in November almost all Tyrolean Jews had to leave the Gau of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. While at least two hundred Jews of Tyrol and Vorarlberg did not survive the year 1945, it is a fact that about three hundred survived abroad or even in concentration camps.
In 1945 the building in 15, Sillgasse was severely damaged during a bomb attack and finally demolished. The present Jewish Community of Tyrol and Vorarlberg was re-established in 1952 and a praying space in 1, Zollerstraße, Wilten quarter was hired in 1961. In 1981 a memorial plaque was put up at 15, Sillgasse with following inscription: “Here was the synagogue of the Jewish Community Innsbruck. It was destroyed by the National Socialists on November 10th, 1938”. Hubert and Michael Prachensky constructed the current building and the new Synagogue was inaguarated in March 1993. Above the entrance you can read in Hebrew: “Build this house for me and I will live in it.”
Since 1986 Dr. Esther Fritsch has been president of the Jewish Community of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The last Tyrolean rabbi Dr. Elimelech Rimalt became a member of Israel´s parliament Knesset and died on November 5th, 1987 in Israel.
In June 1997 a menorah memorial for the murdered Jews in the pogrom night was erected at Eduard Wallnöfer Platz, also Landhausplatz, and consecrated by Paul Chaim Eisenberg, chief rabbi of Vienna.
update 28.10.2018
Translation:
Gerhard Buzas
Literature:
Martin Achrainer < Gemeinderat Wilhelm Dannhauser. Selbstbewusstes Judentum zwischen "deutscher Treue" und politischem Antisemitismus > in: Thomas Albrich (Hg.), “Von Salomon Sulzer bis “Bauer & Schwarz” – Jüdische Vorreiter der Moderne in Tirol und Vorarlberg”, Haymon Verlag 2009, S 225-264
Martin Achrainer < Die Synagoge > in: Gabriele Rath / Andrea Sommerauer / Martha Verdorfer (Hg.), “Bozen Innsbruck – zeitgeschichtliche stadtrundgänge”, Folio Verlag 2000, S 104 – 108
Ingrid Böhler < Der “Landesrabbiner”: Dr. Josef Link und seine Familie > in: Thomas Albrich (Hg.), „Wir lebten wie sie…“. Jüdische Lebensgeschichten aus Tirol und Vorarlberg, Haymon-Verlag Innsbruck 1999, S 27 – 52
Michael Gehler < Spontaner Ausdruck des “Volkszorns”?, Neue Aspekte zum Innsbrucker Judenpogrom vom 9./10. November 1938 > in: Zeitgeschichte, 18. Jahr, Okt. 1990 – Dez. 1991, Heft 1-12
Gretl Köfler < Tirol und die Juden > in: Thomas Albrich / Klaus Eisterer / Rolf Steininger (Hg.) – Tirol und der Anschluss, Innsbrucker Forschungen zur Zeitgeschichte, Band 3, Haymon Verlag 1988, S. 169-182
Gretl Köfler < Die "Reichskristallnacht > in: Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (Hg.) – Widerstand und Verfolgung in Tirol 1934 bis 1945 – Österreichischer Bundesverlag Wien 1984, Band 1, S 448-462
Gerhard Salinger < Die jüdische Gemeinde in Innsbruck - Wie in vielen anderen Orten, hatte die Geschichte der Juden in Innsbruck ihre Licht- und Schattenseiten. > http://david.juden.at/kulturzeitschrift/70-75/72-salinger.htm
Horst Schreiber < Der Völkermord an den Jüdinnen und Juden > in: Horst Schreiber (Hg.), “Nationalsozialismus und Faschismus in Tirol und Südtirol – Opfer . Täter . Gegner”, Tiroler Studien zu Geschichte und Politik, Michael-Gaismair-Gesellschaft, StudienVerlag 2008
Gad Hugo Sella < Die Juden Tirols – Ihr Leben und Schicksal > Israel 1979
References:
http://david.juden.at/kulturzeitschrift/70-75/72-salinger.htm
http://ikg-innsbruck.at/home_de.php?id=5000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimelekh_Rimalt – Visit 19.01.2010
http://www.ashkenazhouse.org/osterreich/bd11.html