17 The synagogue 1912 to 1938
In 1904, the Jewish community (counting 493 members in 1910), bought a lot on Schäffnerstraße. By 1908, a competition of various architects was underway, in which Wilhelm Stiassny, a well-known architect in Vienna, who had already planned and built twelve synagogues, won the first prize. The King of Bavaria’s building commission, however, rejected his design in neo-Renaissance style.
That was a new chance for the local 'stars' Joseph Koch and Franz Spiegel whose draft in "Moorish style" had lost against Stiassny's drafts. In February 1911, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria gave his permission for the erection of a synagogue according to Koch's plans: with a main prayer hall, a prayer room for weekdays, a school, a mikveh and rooms for the administration.
On August 29, 1912, this building seating 290 men and 180 women was inaugurated. It was a quite modern structure with columns and balconies built in reinforced concrete, with a big round window with the Star of David built into the main facade, with two impressive towers flanking the main portal, and quite an elaborate roof with a monumental cupula, the top of which resembling tent canvasses. Additionally, there were two staircase towers in front of the main portal, each topped by an elegant monopteros, plus a golden Star of David high above the cupula.
"May the new temple become the steady and safe hub for the cultural life of Regensburg's Israelites for centuries to come, and may a rich life blossom from it …" - these words spoken by the Lord Mayor Dr. Gessler, did not come true. In the pogrom night of November 9, 1938, the building was intentionally set on fire by Nazi arsonists, just as Gauleiter Wächtler (regional leader within the Nazi regime) had written to Mayor Schottenheim: "I have given orders that tonight the synagogue must be burnt down and has to disappear. No stone shall remain, it shall be reduced to rubble!". The first deportations followed in 1942.
