in detail
Jews were expelled from Tübingen in 1477. Almost four hundred years later, a new Jewish community was started in 1850. In 1882, the synagogue in Gartenstraße 33 was inaugurated. It was burned down on November 10, 1938.
A residential building was constructed on the site. Remnants of the synagogue's fence are still visible outside, as well as part of the foundation (now in the parking garage of Gartenstraße 33).
In 1998, a local project group initiated a design competition for a memorial on the site fo the former synagogue. The memorial, designed by the Architekten-Gemeinschaft Nürtingen and sculptor Gert Riel and funded, among others, by the city of Tübingen, was inaugurated on November 9, 2000.
The memorial consists of a steel cube representing the synagogue, which has 101 openings (standing for Tübingen's Jews who were expelled or killed during the Shoah), situated around a fountain from which water flows down a canal, on top of which can be found plaques with the names of Jewish Tübingers. At the end of the canal, information plaques on a steel stele provide information on the history of the Tübingen-Reutlingen Jewish community as well as the complicated handling of the synagogue plot after 1938.
On November 9 each year, there is an official memorial service at the Tübingen Synagogue Square Memorial.
1477: as a requisite for the founding of the university, Jews are expelled from Tübingen
1850: Leopold Hirsch goes to court to obtain citizenship in Tübingen and wins
1882: the synagogue in Gartenstraße 33 is inaugurated
1938: the synagogue is burned down on November 10
2000: the Tübingen Synagogue Square Memorial is inaugurated
