Westhoffen Synagogue

Dedicated to Roger Cahn

Until World War II the French region Alsace
had been home for centuries to many
small Jewish communities.
When in 1940 the Nazis troops marched in,
most Jews fled to unoccupied France.
A large number of Alsatian Jews were
nevertheless persecuted during the Holocaust
and many were murdered in the camps.
During the German occupation and the fighting
at the end of the war several synagogues were destroyed.
After 1945 only few Jews came back
to their rural communities.
Today just a handful of synagogues
are being used for services.
More than 90 buildings remain,
most of them doomed to dilapidation.

Westhoffen Synagogue is at risk as well!

This 3D-visualization was done on
the basis of an extensive description and analysis of the building.
The reconstruction attempts to show the interior of
the synagogue as it appeared before
or shortly after World War I.
The exterior has been almost unchanged.

3D Visualization:
Dipl. -Ing. Jürgen Eckhardt

Description and analysis of the building:
University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden,
Faculty of Design, Department of Interior Design
Seminar conducted by
Prof. Dr. Falk Krebs
Dipl.-Designer Edgar Brück

Advisor for history and culture:
Dorothee Lottmann-Kaeseler
Active Museum for German Jewish History
Spiegelgasse 7 D-65183 Wiesbaden

Architectural history research:
Dipl.-Ing. Renate Scheurer

Co-operation:
Ministry for Culture, Paris
Monument Protection Agency; Strasbourg
Municipality of Westhoffen

Music:
Estrongo Nachama
song for Yom Kippur

Heartfelt thanks to Roger Cahn for his unending support

© J. Eckhardt, 2004