Leipzig - 4 Apels Garten (originally 6-8 Otto Schiller Strasse), Ez Chaim Synagogue

Summary: The Talmud Torah association of Leipzig built this synagogue with funds donated by Chaim Eitingon, a Jewish tobacco merchant. In 1921, Eitingon purchased the land (on which a gymnasium had recently been torn down) from the Gymnastic Association, after which he commissioned the Leipzig architect Gustav Flaume to design and build a synagogue with a seating capacity of 1,200 on the plot. Another source, however, claims that Eitingon purchased an existing gymnasium and had it gutted and renovated. Eitingon requested that the building be designed with a simple exterior and a lavish, majestic interior. The synagogue, which was inaugurated in 1922, was the largest Orthodox synagogue in the region of Saxony, and the second largest in the city of Leipzig; Ephraim Carlebach, the renowned rabbi, served as its spiritual leader. In 1927, an annex containing a weekday synagogue was added to the building. On Pogrom Night, November 1938, Nazis plundered and destroyed the synagogue. Several weeks later, the building was torn down.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: CJL
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