Tanja Brühl, President of TU Darmstadt, also sees the project as an important contribution by the university: “With the virtual reconstruction of destroyed synagogues in the Rhine-Main region, we have the opportunity to make an important contribution to the cultural heritage of the three RMU university towns afford. The project is an example of how interdisciplinarity and cooperation in research and teaching within the RMU can be successful, and how we as universities can actively help shape a culture of remembrance in exchange with civil society and advocate the appreciation of diversity. I would like to thank all sponsors for their generous commitment and look forward to the further progress of the project.”
The first results of the project are already available. On February 16th, the mayor of Darmstadt, Jochen Partsch, will open the installation “Telescope into the Past” opened. With a 3D image, it commemorates the destroyed synagogue on Bleichstrasse. The reconstruction shown, which was funded by the ENTEGA Foundation, is a revision of an earlier version and makes it clear what is possible with current software. Externally, the installation resembles a telescope. Looking through you can see what it would look like if the synagogue were still standing. The installation, which has already been realized in other places, was created in Darmstadt as part of the project “Students against forgetting for democracy – stele project and app digital search for traces. Footprints4Freedom” by the Lichtenberg School in Darmstadt.
On November 9, 1938, the National Socialists set fire to the synagogue. The synagogues on Friedrichstrasse and in Darmstadt-Eberstadt were also destroyed. In November 1938, synagogues burned everywhere in the German Reich – the Nazis organized the destruction of Jewish prayer houses in more than 1,000 locations. The Darmstadt synagogue project has been a sign of remembrance for almost 30 years.
