Shattered Spaces: Encountering Jewish Ruins in Postwar Germany and Poland

368 Pages·2011·4.073 MB·English

by  Michael Meng

Shattered Spaces

Shattered Spaces
Encountering Jewish Ruins
in Postwar Germany
and Poland
Michael Meng
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, En gland ■ 2011
Copyright © 2011 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Publication of this book was supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for
Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Meng, Michael.
Shattered spaces : encountering Jewish ruins in postwar Germany and Poland /
Michael Meng.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-674-05303-8 (alk. paper)
1. Jews—Germany—History—1945– 1990. 2. Jews—Germany—History—1990–
3. Jews— Poland—History—20th century. 4. Jews— Poland—History—21st
century. 5. Collective memory and city planning— Germany. 6. Collective memory and
city planning— Poland. 7. Memory— Social aspects— Germany. 8. Memory—S ocial
aspects— Poland. 9. Memorialization— Germany. 10. Memorialization— Poland.
I. Title.
DS134.26M46 2011
305.892'404309045—dc22 2011012096
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface xi
Introduction 1
1 Confronting the Spoils of Genocide 29
2 Clearing Jewish Rubble 60
3 Erasing the Jewish Past 111
4 Restoring Jewish Ruins 155
5 Reconstructing the Jewish Past 212
Conclusion 254
Notes 273
Ac know ledg ments 337
Index 341

Illustrations
Map of contemporary Eu rope facing page 1
Aerial view of the Warsaw Ghetto 3
Ruins of the synagogue on Levetzow Street, West Berlin 6
Ruins of the synagogue in Rymanów 7
Berlin’s New Synagogue under construction 8
Potsdam’s synagogue aft er Kristallnacht 27
Benjamin Ferencz with JRSO staff 39
Berlin’s New Synagogue 65
Warsaw’s Great Synagogue 67
Ruins of Warsaw’s Great Synagogue 68
Jan Zachwatowicz 73
Map of postwar Muranów 75
Survivors march through the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto 77
Warsaw Ghetto Memorial 80
Ruins of the Warsaw ghetto 82
Th e Warsaw ghetto space rebuilt aft er the war 82
Former site of Warsaw’s Great Synagogue 84
Warsaw’s Nożyk Synagogue in 1964 85
viii Illustrations
Reopened synagogue in Berlin 91
Martin Riesenburger at Ryke Street Synagogue, East Berlin 94
Ruins of the synagogue on Johannis Street 16, East Berlin 95
Bombed- out façade of East Berlin’s New Synagogue 97
Ruins of East Berlin’s New Synagogue 98
Ceremonial groundbreaking of the Jewish community
center, West Berlin 102
De mo li tion of the synagogue on Fasanen Street, West Berlin 103
Heinz Galinski in front of the Jewish community center,
West Berlin 104
Restored fragment of the synagogue on Fraenkelufer,
West Berlin 106
Essen’s synagogue 115
Essen’s synagogue on Kristallnacht 118
Essen’s postwar traffi c plan 121
Postwar model of downtown Essen 122
Essen’s synagogue as the House of Industrial Design 127
Th e interior of the House of Industrial Design in Essen 128
Map of postwar Wrocław 137
Map of Wilhelm Square in prewar Potsdam 143
Former site of Potsdam’s synagogue 151
Warsaw’s Nożyk Synagogue in 1975 177
Wrocław’s synagogue in ruins 182
Erich Honecker at the groundbreaking of the New
Synagogue’s restoration in East Berlin 192
Illustrations ix
Detlev Peukert showing the exhibition “Re sis tance and
Persecution” in Essen 203
Ruins of the synagogue in Działoszyce 213
Sketch of Warsaw’s Museum of the History of Polish Jews 233
Berlin’s Jewish museum in construction 236
Wrocław’s synagogue being restored 240
Prewar interior of Essen’s synagogue 243
Restored interior of Essen’s synagogue 244