Cafe Salomon is Leipzig's first kosher restaurant since the Holocaust. The Saxon city, where tens of thousands of Jews were persecuted in the 1930s, now has one of the most active Jewish communities in eastern Germany.
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Hummus, fried fish and matzo ball soup: Those are some of the things you can find on the menu at Cafe Salomon, Leipzig's first kosher restaurant since World War II.
"We are trying to close a gap in Leipzig," Gotthard Dittrich, head of the Rahn school in Leipzig, told the Leipziger Volkszeitung (LVZ) newspaper at the restaurant's opening ceremony on Tuesday.
Cafe Salomon's owner, Jakob Kerzhner, told LVZ that previously kosher-abiding Jews could only have meals "at home." Most restaurants prepare meat, fish and dairy products in kitchens that do not meet the standards of kashruth, Judaism's dietary laws.
The restaurant does not serve fowl or beef, because, according to kashruth, milk and many meat products have to be prepared and served separately — too complicated and expensive a process for Cafe Salomon. However, some fish are on the menu, as well as vegetarian and vegan options.
"If we cooked meat in our kitchen, then we wouldn't be able to serve coffee with milk," said Kerzhner, who keeps kosher.
Before 1933, there were some 2,800 Jewish temples in Germany. Today there are just 130 synagogues and prayer rooms — a reflection of the tumultuous past of German Jewish life, but also evidence of its current resurgence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Avers
Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin
The Jewish community in Berlin with more than 11,000 members is once again the biggest in Germany. Its main synagogue is on Rykestrasse, a red-brick building in a Neo-Romanesque style dating from 1903/04. With seating for over 2,000, it is the second-largest synagogue in Europe after the Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest.
Image: Thomas Klatt
Erfurt Synagogue
It's thought to be one of the oldest synagogues still standing in Europe. It was by chance in the year 1100 that the Erfurt Synagogue survived a medieval pogrom as well as repeated phases of persecution. It was converted into a storage hall and later even used as a ballroom, so its true purpose remained hidden until the 1990s. It was eventually restored and re-opened in 2009 as a museum.
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Jewish Cemetery 'Heiliger Sand' in Worms
The first settled Jewish communities were established along a north-south passage following the Rhine river between Speyer, Mainz and Worms. The oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe can be found in the synagogue compound in Worms. The tombstones with over 2,000 still legible inscriptions, some dating back to the 11th century, are well worth seeing.
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Cologne Synagogue
Cologne was one of the largest Jewish communities in Germany during the Weimar Republic. In 1933 there were seven synagogues. On November 9, 1938, during the nationwide pogroms of Kristallnacht, all houses of prayer were destroyed. After the war, the synagogue on Roonstrasse was the only one to be rebuilt. Today it is once again a lively center of Jewish culture in Germany.
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The 'document' at the Neupfarrplatz in Regensburg
The first Jewish community in Bavaria was based in Regensburg. In the Middle Ages it was one of the most important in Europe. The first synagogue, which was destroyed in 1519, is today commemorated by a work of art in white stone marking the outline of the synagogue. In 1995, during excavation work, the old remnants were found, leading to the creation of an underground information center.
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The Baroque synagogue in Bayreuth
The synagogue in Bayreuth has a very different history. The building from 1715 served as an opera house and was only later converted by the Jewish community into a synagogue. Today it is the only surviving Baroque-style synagogue in Germany that is still used as a place of worship.
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Ulm Synagogue
The Jewish community in Ulm has had a synagogue again since 2012. Former German President Gauck attended the inauguration, at which he spoke of "a day of joy for all people of good will". The building, which is oriented towards Jerusalem, is to be the central contact point for Jews in the east of Württemberg and in the Bavarian part of Swabia.
Image: dapd
The Great Synagogue of Augsburg
It is the only synagogue in Bavaria to have survived National Socialism almost unscathed. Opened in 1917, the Art Nouveau building is considered one of the most beautiful prayer houses in Europe. The eye-catcher is the 29-meter-high dome, which is decorated with oriental elements. The synagogue also houses the Jewish Cultural Museum, which documents the history of the Jews in Augsburg.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
The timber-framed synagogue in Celle
In this region of Germany, Jews were only granted permission to build synagogues in 1737. This simple, timber-framed building dates from this period. The opulent, Baroque-style interior, like so many synagogues in Germany, fell victim to the Nazi "Kristallnacht" pogrom in November 1938. Since 1974, the building has been used once again as a synagogue.
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The Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt
The early 20th century rang in an economic boom for Jews in Germany, which, in turn, inspired a more liberal movement within the Jewish community. This synagogue dates from this era and resembles Assyrian–Egyptian architecture. Neither Nazi pogroms nor the Second World War could fully destroy it. So, to this day, it stands as a testament to the glory days of German Jewish life.
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The Old Synagogue in Essen
The Old Synagogue in Essen was built between 1911 and 1913. It was one of the largest and most important Jewish centers in prewar Germany, but was severely damaged by the Nazis in 1938. After the war it served first as a museum for industrial design and later as a place of commemoration and documentation. After extensive reconstruction work, it is now home to the House of Jewish Culture museum.
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The New Synagogue in Dresden
The Old Synagogue in Dresden, designed by Gottfried Semper and part of the city's famous skyline, was destroyed in 1938. More than half a century later, at the same location, this award-winning new building was opened in 2001. Inside the sanctuary is a cube containing a square worship space, curtained off on all sides, intended to evoke an echo on the scale of the Temple at Jerusalem.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Ohel Jakob Synagogue in Munich
Munich also set out to architecturally mark a new chapter in German Jewish history. The Ohel Jakob, or Jacob's Tent, synagogue was inaugurated in 2006. The building is part of the new Jewish Center consisting of the synagogue, the Jewish Museum of Munich and a community center funded by the city. With its 9,500 members, the Jewish community in Munich is one of the biggest in Germany.
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'A part of the living identity'
The idea for the restaurant came from the Rahn school's Dittrich and Gabriele Goldfuss, who is responsible for international collaboration in Leipzig. The school has a close partnership with a high school in Herzliya, a town just north of Tel Aviv in Israel.
"I hope that guests from all over the world come here," Goldfuss told LVZ. "I am proud that the Jewish community has become a part of the living identity of this city."
Leipzig had a large Jewish community early in the 20th century, but, like the rest of the European Jewish population, it was decimated in the Holocaust.
According to the IRG, a Jewish community organization in Leipzig, more than 15,000 Jews living in the city were persecuted as a result of the Nuremberg Laws, a set of anti-Semitic and racially discriminatory laws in Nazi Germany that came into effect in 1935.
Today, Leipzig has the most active Jewish community in Germany's eastern state of Saxony, with around 1,300 members.