Revealed architecture: sacred and secular Jewish buildings in East Prussia

东普鲁士犹太建筑研究项目是第一个研究一个地区的犹太建筑的项目，直到今天才被系统地考虑到。在1812年《解放法令》通过后，直到纳粹政权灭绝犹太人社区之前，东普鲁士犹太人建造的各种建筑将被记录、研究和比较。虽然许多研究项目已经并将从不同的角度考虑当今联邦共和国地区的犹太建筑历史，但迄今为止仍缺乏对东普鲁士犹太遗产的系统考虑。该项目旨在调查德国边境地区的社会少数民族的建筑是如何发展的，这些建筑受到来自邻国的不同（也包括建筑）影响，以及在多大程度上可以揭示特定的犹太人身份。犹太教堂、墓地大厅和其他仪式建筑——据目前所知，共有52座犹太社区机构建筑，其中13座被保存下来——但也包括亵渎建筑，包括住房建筑，将在建筑历史和社会文化层面进行检查。这拓展了以往以宗教建筑为主的犹太建筑研究的视角，对该地区的犹太建筑历史有了一个全面的整体认识。此外，还将考虑建设过程——从选择土地到规划、批准、选择工匠和融资——以及当局对建设决定和建设过程施加何种影响以及委托哪些工匠的问题。对于神圣和世俗的社区建筑，艺术史方面也将发挥重要作用。该项目填补了东普鲁士建筑史和东普鲁士一般文化史的主要空白。同时，它将为研究19世纪和20世纪初的德国犹太建筑史做出重要贡献。这是第一次对东普鲁士保存和破坏的犹太建筑遗产进行全面调查。密集的档案研究和现场文件将是研究的基础。现存的犹太教堂仍然受到衰败和彻底毁灭的威胁，还有由世界上最重要的犹太建筑师之一埃里希·门德尔松（Erich Mendelsohn）设计的蒂尔西特（Tilsit）的小屋，这些建筑的意识将会提高，它们将被保存下来，留给子孙后代。

The research project on Jewish architecture of East Prussia is the first to study the Jewish architecture of a region that has not been taken into consideration systematically until today. The various buildings erected by the Jewish population of East Prussia after the adoption of the Edict of Emancipation in 1812 and until the extermination of the communities by the Nazi regime will be documented, researched and compared. While the history of Jewish architecture in the regions of today's Federal Republic has been and will be considered in numerous research projects and from various points of view, a systematic consideration of the Jewish heritage in East Prussia has hitherto been lacking. This project aims to investigate how the buildings of a social minority in a German border area, which was exposed to different (also architectural) influences from the neighboring countries, developed and to what extent a specific Jewish identity can be revealed. Synagogues, cemetery halls and other ritual buildings – a total of 52 buildings of Jewish community institutions are known, of which 13 are preserved according to current knowledge – but also profane architectures up to housing construction will be examined on an architectural-historical and socio-cultural level. This expands the perspective of the previous research on Jewish architecture, which is primarily focused on religious buildings, towards a comprehensive overall view of Jewish architectural history of this region. In addition, the construction process will be considered – from the choice of land to the planning, approval, selection of craftsmen and financing – with regard to the question of what kind of influence the authorities exercised on the building decisions and the construction process and which craftsmen were commissioned. Regarding the sacred and profane community buildings, aspects of art history will play an important role, too.The project bridges a major gap in the historiography of East Prussian architectural history and general cultural history of East Prussia. At the same time, it will provide an important contribution to the study of the German-Jewish architectural history of the 19th and early 20th centuries.For the first time, a complete survey of the preserved and destroyed Jewish architectural heritage of East Prussia is undertaken. Intense archival studies and documentations on site will be the basis for the research. With the documentation of the extant synagogues that are still threatened by decay and complete annihilation as well as the lodge house in Tilsit, designed by Erich Mendelsohn – one of the most important Jewish architects in the world – the awareness for these buildings will be raised and they will be preserved virtually for posterity.