Wolfsthalplatz

As early as 1946, the city council decided to rename the site of the former synagogue “Wolfsthalplatz”, in memory of the Jewish banker and benefactor Otto Wolfsthal (1870-1942). An urban design competition in the 1980s led to the idea of marking the site of the old synagogue with a plane tree grove.

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 Wolfsthalplatz

Wolfsthalplatz

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Other notable spots at Wolfsthalplatz

The memorial stone of 1946

Already in the first city council meetings after the Second World War, which were resumed in October 1945, it was also discussed to erect a memorial stone for the destroyed synagogue. The choice of the inscription for the memorial turned out to be difficult and so the erection was delayed until the summer of 1946:

“Ah, you can kill, but you cannot bring to life, unless it is done by love.
Friedrich Hölderlin
Here stood the synagogue of the Jewish community, which was destroyed by criminal hands on November 9, 1938.” [translation]

 Gedenkstein 1946 Wolfsthalplatz

The memorial stone of 1984

Another memorial plaque commemorating the persecuted and murdered Jewish citizens was placed at Wolfsthalplatz in 1984.

“In memory and commemoration of our Jewish fellow citizens who were persecuted and murdered.
During the National Socialist tyranny, more than 300 Jews from Aschaffenburg and other places were deported to the extermination camps from this town. Their fate must be a warning and obligation to us.” [translation]

  Gedenkstein 1984 Wolfsthalplatz

The fountain “Zeitwagen”

The sculpture/fountain “Zeitwagen” (chariot of time) (bronze, 1992) by Rainer Stoltz uses water as a symbol of the flow and direction of time and urges us to remember the history of this place. The artwork is also meant to be understood as a sign of confidence in times of personal and social crisis.

 Skulpturen-Brunnen „Zeitwagen“