Nächstes Jahr Bornplatzsynagoge

In the organizer's words:

After the Reichspogromnacht in 1938, many Jews left Germany - if they were still able to. The Stein family's thirteen-year-old son also had to flee. Only children under 14 were legally allowed to leave for Palestine. He would never see his parents again.

After his time in Israel, where he probably worked for the underground militia Haganah, he initially wanted to travel to the USA. But a stopover in Hamburg changes everything. He falls in love. He stays.

His son grows up in Hamburg and looks at the embroidered curtain with the picture of the Bornplatz Synagogue - the destroyed place of worship that he has never seen himself - every time he visits the synagogue. For him, it became a symbol of a gap in the cityscape, in society, in his faith.

In 1992, the Lübeck synagogue burned down. This became a turning point for his son. The latent anti-Semitism has not disappeared. He realized that something had to change. The idea was born to rebuild the Bornplatz synagogue as a visible sign of Jewish life in the midst of our society. This was triggered by the historic Torah crown, which miraculously survived the destruction of the former synagogue.

However, the former synagogue square is now a parking lot, partly covered with university buildings and a converted Nazi bunker. The long journey through the institutions begins - and culminates in the official return of Carlebach Square to the Jewish community. A symbolic gesture, accompanied by a belated apology from the Hamburg city council: it took 86 years.

The play tells of loss and renewal and the attempt to make remembrance and normality possible side by side in our everyday lives.

World premiere
By Axel Schneider

Director: Axel Schneider
Stage: Ulrike Engelbrecht
Costumes: Volker Deutschmann
Musical direction: Georg Münzel
Dramaturgy: Anja Del Caro
Collaboration: Michael Batz

With Franz-Joseph Dieken, Sarah Diener, Markus Feustel,
Ingo Meß, Johan Richter, Isabelle Stoppel

Premiere on September 28, 2025
Performances until March 25, 2026