Bad Sobernheim (main centre)

• Evangelical parish church, Igelsbachstraße 7 – Late Gothic hall church, west tower about 1500 by Peter Ruben, Meisenheim, nave 1482–1484, quire about 1400, converted towards 1500, Romanesque tower; in the churchyard tombs from the 19th century
• Evangelical Philip's Church (Philippskirche) and Kaisersaal ("Emperor’s Hall"), Kreuzstraße 7 – Baroque quarrystone building, 1737–1741, 1901 conversion into inn, 1905 addition of Baroque Revival Kaisersaal, architect Friedrich Otto, Kirn; belonging to the area a building with mansard roof no. 9
• Catholic Maltese Chapel (Malteserkapelle), Malteser Straße 9 – Late Gothic chapel of the former Sovereign Military Order of Malta commandry, about 1426 to about 1465, nave reconstructed in 1671
• Saint Matthew's Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Matthäus), Herrenstraße 18 – Late Gothic Revival hall church, 1898–1900, architect Ludwig Becker, Mainz; on the churchyard wall cast-iron hearth heating plates with reliefs and Baroque figure of Saint John of Nepomuk, 18th century
• Town fortifications – built after 1330, destroyed 1689, reconstructed in altered form; preserved parts of the town wall: between Kirchstraße 9 and 13; near Kapellenstraße 5 (former Disibodenbergerkapelle); behind Poststraße 39 and 41; between Großstraße 91 and Ringstraße 3; behind Ringstraße 35 and 37; behind Ringstraße 59 and 61; near Wilhelmstraße 37; behind Bahnhofstraße 24; behind Bahnhofstraße 2 and 4
• Bahnhofstraße – Felke Monument; standing figure, bronze, marked 1935
• Bahnhofstraße 4 – shophouse; Late Classicist plastered building, open-air stairway with porchtop terrace on columns, mid 19th century, addition crowned with gable about 1910
• Bahnhofstraße 21 – former savings bank building; Late Historicist hewn-stone building, marked 1900
• Bahnstraße 1 – railway station; sandstone-block buildings with one- to two-floor reception building, slated hip roofs, latter half of the 19th century
• Dornbachstraße 20 – former town mill; unified group of dwelling and commercial buildings, partly timber-frame, half-hip roofs with off-centre ventilation zones, one marked 1810; millrace, waterwheel
• Eckweiler Straße, at the graveyard – group of tombs: in the shape of an oak stump, 1868; two others of the same type; Gothicized stele, 1855; two Classicist grave columns, mid 19th century; E. Felke tomb, granite block with bronze image, 1926 (?); Families Liegel and Schmitt tomb, façade, Art Nouveau, about 1910; J. Müller tomb, electrotyped angel, wrought-iron fencing, about 1910; Morian tomb, ancient stele, urns, 1898
• Felkestraße 76–96 – former Kleinmühle ("Little Mill"); 19th and early 20th centuries; no. 76/78: three- to four-floor former factory building, no. 86: mill building, Heimatstil, about 1910/1920, next to it a quarrystone building, 19th century; no. 94, 96: originally possibly tenant farmers’ dwelling belonging to complex; hydraulic engineering facilities
• Großstraße 6 – Late Classicist house, partly timber-frame, mid 19th century
• Großstraße 7 – shophouse; Baroque timber-frame building, partly solid, essentially 18th century
• Großstraße 10 – timber-frame house, partly solid, possibly earlier half of the 19th century
• Großstraße 19 – shophouse; timber-frame building, partly solid, essentially possibly 16th/17th century
• Großstraße 35 – shophouse; Late Baroque timber-frame building, partly solid, marked 1754
• At Großstraße 36 – Baroque wooden relief, 18th century
• Großstraße 37 – estate complex; timber-frame house, partly solid, essentially Baroque, marked 1700, remodelled in the early 19th century, gateway arch marked 1772, side building 18th century
• Großstraße 40 – shophouse, essentially 16th/17th century, stairway tower, gateway arch marked 1720, façade remodelled in Classicist form about 1820/1830
• In Großstraße 53 – former mikveh, after 1850
• Großstraße 55/57 – so-called Russischer Hof ("Russian Estate"); three-floor former noble estate, partly timber-frame, stairway tower, marked 1597
• Großstraße 67 – former Gasthaus Deutsches Haus (inn); long Baroque timber-frame building, partly solid, early 18th century
• Großstraße 88 – former house; Late Baroque building with mansard roof, mid 18th century
• Großstraße 2–52,1–57, Marumstraße 26, Marktplatz 2 (monumental zone) – two- to three-floor shophouses, partly timber-frame, mainly from the 16th to 19th centuries
• Gymnasialstraße 9 – former synagogue; Late Classicist building with hip roof, sandstone-block, marked 1859
• Gymnasialstraße 11 – former Realschule; two-wing Baroque Revival building with mansard roof, 1911/1912, architect Friedrich Otto, Kirn
• Gymnasialstraße 13 – former Teutonic Knights commandry; Late Baroque building with hip roof, marked 1750
• Herrenstraße 16 – Catholic rectory; Baroque plastered building, marked 1748
• At Herrenstraße 24 – Renaissance stairway tower, about 1600
• Igelsbachstraße – warriors’ memorial 1914–1918, soldier, bronze, sandstone steles, 1936, sculptor Emil Cauer the Younger
• Igelsbachstraße 8 – Ehemhof, former noble estate; three-floor part with stairway tower, marked 1589, two-floor Baroque part with gateway, 18th century
• Igelsbachstraße 14 – Evangelical rectory; two-part Baroque building, 18th century, expanded in late 19th century; monumental tablet to Wilhelm Oertel
• Kapellenstraße 5 – former Disibodenberg Chapel (Disibodenberger Kapelle); Late Gothic vaulted building, 1401 and years that followed, 1566 conversion to storehouse, vaulted cellar
• Kirchstraße – warriors’ memorial 1870–1871, column with eagle, after 1871
• Kirchstraße 7 – house, architectural part, essentially 16th century, expanded towards the back, remodelled in Late Classicist in mid 19th century; on the north gable a Renaissance window, 16th century
• Kleine Kirchstraße 2 – Baroque building with mansard roof; gateway arch with armorial stone, marked 1722; with Saarstraße 30 the former Malteserhof (estate); barn with gateway arch, 16th century (?)
• At Marktplatz 2 – Madonna, Baroque, 18th century
• Marktplatz 6 – shophouse; three-floor Late Gothic timber-frame building, partly solid, possibly from the 16th century
• Marktplatz 9 – shophouse; Late Baroque building with hipped mansard roof, mid 18th century
• Marktplatz 11 – town hall; representative Late Gothic Revival hewn-stone building, 1861–1863, architect Peters, Bad Kreuznach; belltower and two Late Classicist additions, 1860s
• Meddersheimer Straße 37 – Baroque Revival villa, marked 1893, expanded on the garden side about 1910/1920
• Meddersheimer Straße 42 – villa; two-and-a-half-floor Late Gründerzeit clinker brick building, Renaissance motifs, marked 1890
• Poststraße 5 – villa; Late Gründerzeit two-and-a-half-floor building with hip roof, Renaissance Revival motifs, sandstone and clinker brick, marked 1894
• Poststraße 7 – villa; Late Gründerzeit clinker brick building, Renaissance motifs, about 1890
• Poststraße 11 – two-and-a-half-floor solid building, partly timber-frame, about 1900
• Poststraße 26 – former municipal electricity works; administration building; villalike Late Gründerzeit clinker brick building, about 1900
• Poststraße 30 – villa; one-floor building with mansard roof, Heimatstil, 1914.
• Poststraße 31 – villa; Heimatstil, about 1910
• Priorhofstraße 16/18 – former Priorhof; Renaissance building with stairway tower, marked 1572, oriel window marked 1609, gateway arch 16th or 17th century, addition with cellar arch and Baroque relief
• Ringstraße 36 – former hospital; three-and-a-half-floor villalike Gothic Revival quarrystone building, marked 1893, commercial building
• Saarstraße 17 – timber-frame house, 16th or 17th century
• Saarstraße 30 – former Malteserhof; Baroque building with hipped mansard roof, gateway arch, portal with skylight marked; joined with Kleine Kirchstraße 2 by a gateway arch
• Staudernheimer Straße – signpost/kilometre stone; sandstone obelisk, 19th century
• Staudernheimer Straße 13 – villa; Baroquified building with hip roof, about 1920; town planning focus
• Steinhardter Straße 1/3 – Gründerzeit pair of semi-detached houses; building with hipped mansard roof with Late Classicist elements, about 1870
• Steinhardter Straße 2 – former Villa Zens; Late Classicist plastered building with knee wall, addition with conservatory; in the garden wall the pedestal of a wayside cross, marked 1753
• Wilhelmstraße 3 – Haus „Zum kleinen Erker“; opulent Renaissance building, marked 1614 and 1622; gabled building belonging thereto, essentially 16th century, remodelled in the 19th century in Late Classicist
• Wilhelmstraße 8 – former Steinkallenfelser Hof and “Hohe Burg” inn: building with half-hip roof, essentially 16th century (marked 1532 and 1596); Late Classicist inn, latter half of the 19th century
• Wilhelmstraße 13 – Baroque timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century, ground floor marked 1840
• Jewish graveyard, “Aufm Judenkirchhof” ("At the Jews’ Churchyard") (monumental zone) – laid out about 1785, area with 140 gravestones beginning from 1829; memorial from 1950 with warriors’ memorial plaque 1914-1918
• Kurhaus Dhonau south of town (monumental zone) – Heimatstil buildings, 1907 until about 1930: Kurhaus ("spa house"), former commercial building, about 1920; Hermannshof with timber framing and covered walkways, before 1920; teahouse not far from the Nahe; Haus Waldeck, villa 1907 (addition in 1958), Haus Helge, about 1930; Arngard group of houses (mud hall and bathhouse); whole complex of buildings

Eckweiler

• Evangelical church; formerly Holy Cross (Heilig-Kreuz) – Late Gothic aisleless church, about 1500, expanded 1908, ridge turret 1907

Pferdsfeld

• Alteburgturm, in the Soonwald – four-floor round tower, quarrystone, 1893
• Alteburg forester's house, in the Soonwald – Gründerzeit estate complex along the road, late 19th century
• North of Landesstraße 230 – New Royal Forest Office of Entenpfuhl (nowadays Soonwald Forest Office), one-floor Heimatstil building, about 1900/1910
• South of Landesstraße 230 – Alte Oberförsterei Entenpfuhl ("Old Entenpfuhl Chief Forest Office"), Baroque timber-frame building, partly solid, half-hip roof, earlier half of the 18th century, 1760-1795 residential seat of the Electoral Palatinate hereditary forester Friedrich Wilhelm Utsch. Utsch was thought to be the subject of "Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz", a popular folk song.
• South of Landesstraße 230, Entenpfuhl – monument to the "Ranger from Electoral Palatinate"; limestone, 1913, sculptor Fritz Cleve, Munich

Steinhardt

• Bockenauer Straße 19 – estate complex; building with half-hip roof, timber-frame, plastered, marked 1810, timber-frame barn
• Kreuznacher Straße 19 – estate complex; Classicist house, marked 1835

Saint Matthias Evangelical Parish Church

Bishop Willigis consecrated Saint Matthias Church (Pfarrkirche St. Matthias) about 1000. The oldest parts (north tower base) are Romanesque, if not Carolingian; the quire is Early Gothic. The main nave was built in the late 15th century, and the tower in 1500, by Peter Ruben from Meisenheim. Besides sumptuous altar baldachin capitals with representations of angels and colouring from the time of building, the organ built by Johann Michael Stumm in 1739, largely preserved in its original state and restored, and the windows by Georg Meistermann are worth viewing.

Disibodenberg Chapel

The Late Gothic Disibodenberger Kapelle (chapel) was built to a plan by Heinrich Murer von Beckelnheim for the Cistercians of Disibodenberg Abbey on an estate that lay between the town wall and Großstraße, and which had already been presented to the abbey by Archbishop Willigis of Mainz in 975. The estate, which functioned as a tithe-gathering place for the landholds on the middle Nahe and the Glan, grew into the abbey's most important settlement. The chapel, bearing an imprint of the Frankfurt school, was according to dendrochronological studies, in the area of the quire, roofed about 1455, while the nave got its roof somewhat later, about 1493. Both roof frames, given their age, size, quality and completeness are held to be among the most important witnesses to the carpenter's craft in Rhineland-Palatinate. The means of financing the construction of this 23.25 m-long, 7.65 m-wide building came from an inheritance from Katharina von Homburg, widow of Antilmann von Scharfenstein, called von Grasewege, an Electoral Mainz Amtmann at Schloss Böckelheim, who died on 24 December 1388, and whom Catholics revere as Blessed. After the Reformation was introduced under Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, the chapel was profaned in 1566 by being converted into a storehouse. A vaulted cellar with a height of about 3.90 m was built in, taking in the space between the base of the foundation and the windowsills and thus leading to the loss of the original ground floor's floor level and pedestal zone. Therefore, the chapel can now no longer be entered through any doorway dating from the time of building. The new "high ground floor" thus created lies at the level of the sills of the Gothic windows. Likewise about 1566, in an attempt to gain more stabling room, a wooden middle floor was built in, which is now important to the building's history for both its age and its shaping in the Renaissance style. Since both the later building jobs – the vaulted cellar and the middle floor – came to be in the course of the chapel's profanation after the Reformation was introduced, they can also be considered witnesses to the local denominational history. The west portal's outer tympanum, which shows, under a mighty ogee, in the style of the Frankfurt School, a calvary with Jesus, Mary Mother of God and John the Apostle as well as two thurible-swinging angels attending, is the only one with carved ornamentation in the Nahe-Glan region that has been preserved from the Middle Ages. The artwork is stylistically akin to the tomb carving in nearby St. Johannisberg (constituent community of Hochstetten-Dhaun) and at the Pfaffen-Schwabenheim collegiate church. The motif of the crockets along the ogee, on the viewer's left turned away and on his right opened towards him, are otherwise only found on the west portal of St. Valentin in Kiedrich in the Rheingau. Brought to light in 1985 during restoration work beneath the tympanum was an atlas in the shape of a male figure, which because of his arm warmers reaching down over his palms is described as the Bauhandwerker – roughly "construction worker". The atlas was, after painstaking analysis, walled up again for conservational reasons. After the chapel had been hidden for 111 years behind a print shop's walls, it came back to public awareness in 2010 with the opening of a retail park on the former print shop's property. The Förderverein Disibodenberger Kapelle Bad Sobernheim e.V. (Förderverein means "promotional association" in German) has since set itself the task of finding a cultural use for the old chapel in keeping with its dignity as a former ecclesiastical building, and of permanently opening it to the broader public. In the spring of 2013, however, plans were put forth to turn the Disibodenberg Chapel into a brewpub.^[13]

Maltese Chapel

The Late Gothic Malteserkapelle arose as a church of a settlement of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta/Knights Hospitaller. The quire was built in 1456 and the nave completed in 1465. The chapel's quire stands taller than the nave. The building's exterior is framed by stepped buttresses and windows with fish-bladder tracery. After the Reformation was introduced, the Knights had to leave Sobernheim. The chapel was used as a commercial building and fell into disrepair. After the reintroduction of the Catholic faith in 1664, the chapel, now renovated from the ground up, served as the Catholic parish church. At the Maltese Commandry in 1821, a Progymnasium was established (the Höhere Stadtschule or "Higher Town School"); the chapel was restored in 1837 and was then used as the school chapel. This school is considered the forerunner to the current Gymnasium. After the new Catholic parish church, Saint Matthew's (St. Matthäus) was built in 1898/1899, directly opposite the chapel, six tombs, the baptismal font made about 1625 and a Sacramental shrine from the 15th century were all transferred to the new parish church. The chapel building was converted into a clubhouse. The last renovation work was undertaken in 1999–2003, and since then the Catholic parish of St. Matthäus has been using the building as its Haus der Begegnung ("Meeting House"). The building is under monumental protection.

Saint Matthew’s Catholic Parish Church

Saint Matthew's Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Matthäus), a Gothic Revival church built by master church builder Ludwig Becker from 1898 to 1899, was consecrated by Bishop Michael Felix Korum. It is a great, three-naved hall church built out of yellow sandstone. It has a Gothic Revival triptych altar from 1905, a Sacramental shrine from the 15th century and an historic organ from 1901/1902 built by Michael Körfer from Gau-Algesheim. The organ is one of Körfer's few still preserved works. In the sanctuary stands the baptismal font made about 1625 and taken from the Maltese Chapel. The 59 m-tall churchtower looms over the town and can be seen from far beyond. Among the glass windows, those in the sanctuary stand out from those elsewhere in the church with their special images and colouring. The middle window uses mediaeval symbolism to describe the Last Judgment. The left window shows church patron Saint Matthew's calling at the tax office, under which are shown Hildegard of Bingen and Simon Peter. Displayed on the right window is the Maltese Chapel's patron, John the Baptist, and underneath, among others, Saint Disibod. On each side of the chancel are wall surfaces shaped in local forms. To the right, the lower part shows the town with the town hall's façade, the parish churches’ towers (both Catholic and Evangelical) and the town's coat of arms. The populace standing before this is shown in the four ages of life and as representatives of ecclesiastical and secular worlds. The historic Körfer organ was thoroughly restored in 2011–2012. The parish church itself is slated to be renovated inside beginning in January 2014

Marketplace

Worth seeing, too, is the historic marketplace (Marktplatz) with the town hall (Rathaus) from the 16th century, whence all other historical places, leisure facilities and restaurants in town can be easily reached. The marketplace and the neighbouring streets are also the venue for Bad Sobernheim's yearly traditional Innenstadtfest ("Inner Town Festival"), held on the first weekend in September.

Noble estates

Bad Sobernheim is home to several former landholds once belonging to noblemen or monasteries in bygone centuries. The Steinhardter Hof temporarily served as a hideout towards the end of the 18th century for the robbers Johann Peter Petri, called "Schwarzer Peter" ("Black Peter") and Johannes Bückler, called "Schinderhannes".^[14]

Paul Schneider Monumental Column

In Pferdsfeld, one of the centres in Bad Sobernheim's northwest exclave, stands the Paul-Schneider-Gedenksäule in memory of the martyr Paul Schneider, who was born here.

Synagogue

About any mediaeval institutions, nothing is known, but there might have been a prayer room on hand in the earlier half of the 15th century, when there were four or five Jewish families in town. The modern Jewish community, too, began with a prayer room in the 17th or 18th century. Beginning in 1816, this was to be found in a private house (the Werner house at Marumstraße 20). As early as the late 1830s, the building police were threatening to close the roughly 25 m² room as it had become too small for the swelling Jewish community. First, the community strove to secure a plot on Marumstraße (later the site of the Bottlinger house), but this proved to be too small for a new building. Only in 1858, amid great financial sacrifice, was a synagogue built on what is now called Gymnasialstraße, on a piece of land where once had stood a barn. It was a Late Classicist sandstone-block building with round-arched windows and a pyramid roof. The original building was – in comparison with the one that has been preserved – smaller by one window axis; this area was to be occupied by a schoolhouse. About the synagogue's consecration on 18 June 1858, performed by Chief Rabbi Dr. Auerbach together with the Sobernheim cantor and schoolteacher Alexander Cahn, a newspaper report from the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums survives from 19 June 1858, written by "Master Bricklayer S. Hadra":

Sobernheim, 18 June 1858. On this day, the local Jewish community celebrated the consecration of its newly built House of God. This is, in relation to the not very numerous Jewish population, built very roomily, so that in the case of growth thereof by as many again, there would still not be a lack of room. The building itself is built in a suitable modern style. The community spared no expense furnishing its House of God in the worthiest way. They even enjoyed valuable donations and contributions from non-resident members. The consecration celebrations were conducted with great pomp. Many friends from near and far attended to participate on this festive day. The festive procession moved from the old prayer house to the new synagogue. Forth under the grand baldachin of the Chief Rabbis, Dr. Auerbach from Bonn and the local cantor and schoolteacher, Mr. Cahn, followed by the bearers of the Scroll of Law. Hereupon followed the choir that has been newly instituted here by Sobernheim’s young women and men, the officials who were invited to the festivities and other members of the community. The synagogue at this memorable celebration was adorned with leaves and wreaths of flowers by the teacher. Chief Rabbi Dr. Auerbach gave a deeply gripping sermon characterizing the day’s importance. On Saturday, the Jewish community’s schoolteacher and cantor Mr. Kahn preached on the theme “Build me a House of God and I shall live among you.” S. Hadra, Master Bricklayer.

In 1904, the synagogue was thoroughly renovated and expanded towards the west. About the completion of this work and the synagogue's reconsecration on 11 and 12 November 1904, a magazine report from Der Israelit survives from 24 November 1904:

Sobernheim. 14 November 1904. The 11th and 12th of November were high festive days for the local community, as on these days, the expanded and beautified synagogue was consecrated. To the festivities, many guests from here and elsewhere were invited and they showed up. The consecration service held on Friday afternoon, at which, among others, the mayor, the town executive, the Royal District School Inspector, the principal of the local Realschule and representatives of the schoolboards took part, was opened with the motet “Gesegnet sei, wer da kommt im Namen des Herrn” (“Blessed be He who Cometh in the Lord’s Name”), presented by the synagogue choir. Hereupon, the community’s schoolteacher, Mr. Berendt, read out, in an upliftingly expressive voice, Psalm 110. After the choir then sang Ma Tovu (מה טבו), leadership member Mr. Michel’s eldest daughter presented a prologue in exemplary fashion and handed the community head, Mr. M. Marum, the key to the holy ark. He then gave a speech thanking, in brief but heartfelt words, all those who had contributed to the completion of the building work. Upon this, Mr. Marum opened the holy ark and bestowed upon it its ceremonial function. While the choir sang Vaychi benisa (ויחי בנסע), leadership member Mr. Löb took out one of the Torah scrolls and handed it to Mr. Berendt, who with a festive voice spoke the following: “And this is the teaching that Moses set before the Children of Israel, and in this teaching is the Word that served Israel as a banner on its long wandering through history, around which it gathered, the Word, which was its guiding star in friendly and dreary days: Hear, O Israel, the Everlasting, our God, the Everlasting, is the only one.” After the choir and the community had repeated the last words in Hebrew, the Torah scroll was put into the holy ark amid song from the choir for that occasion. Deeply moving and seriously thought-out was Mr. Berendt’s celebratory sermon that followed about the Word of the prophet Isaiah: “ביתי בית תפלה יקרא לכל העמים” (“My house shall be a house of prayer and a house for all people”). After the consecration hereafter performed by him and the reading of the general invocation, the aaronitic blessing was then conferred in Hebrew and German and the consecrational song was presented by the choir. The celebratory service obviously left all participants with an impression fully matching the dignity of the celebration. After a short break, קבלת שבת took place (onset of Shabbat), at which our splendid House of God shone as surely as it had at midday in glorious electric light. On Saturday morning, the main service was held, whereupon the religious celebration concluded. At four o’clock in the afternoon, a banquet began in the hall at the “high castle”. This event, too, went off in the loveliest way, making the festival into a harmonic whole, honouring its organizers and giving all participants a lasting memory. To the following goes credit for the embellishment of the House of God: Mrs. Jakob Kaufmann née van Geldern, who by collections among the women made possible a magnificent parochet; Mr. Ferdinand Herz, who endowed a sumptuous shulchan cover (for the lectern); Mrs. Else Jakobi née Marum from Grünstadt and Mr. B. Steinherb from Aachen, who each donated a richly ornamented Torah mantle. The Family Jakob Marum from Karlsruhe gave a rare carpet that decorates the inside of the House of God.

In 1929, the synagogue's roof was renovated. In August 1930, a memorial tablet to the fallen from Sobernheim in the First World War was put up at the synagogue. On Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), the synagogue was demolished and desecrated. The prayer books were burnt. Somebody managed to save the Torah scrolls and the parochet. The memorial tablet to the fallen was broken to bits, but Alfred Marum safely gathered up the bits (he put it back together and on 15 October 1950, set it in the memorial at the graveyard, fractured though it still was; the Jewish worship community of the Bad Kreuznach and Birkenfeld districts replaced it with a replica of the original in January 2005). In 1939, the synagogue was sold to the town, who had in mind to turn the building into an atrium for the Gymnasium. In the Second World War, however, the synagogue was used as a storage room by the Wehrmacht. In 1953, after the war, the building was sold to the owner of the Schmidt department store and thereafter used for furniture storage. Intermediate floors were built inside. In 1971, the building was threatened with being torn down. A broad bypass road was, according to the plans then put forth, to lead right across the plot occupied by the synagogue. Only with great effort could the application to put the building under monumental protection be put through. The town and the owner objected, albeit unsuccessfully. In 1986, the building was once again sold, and then used for drink storage and stockpiling. On 9 November 1989 – the 51st anniversary of Kristallnacht – the Förderverein Synagoge Sobernheim e.V. (Sobernheim Synagogue Promotional Association) was founded. It set itself the goal of conserving the legacy of Jewish culture in Bad Sobernheim. Central to its purpose from the outset were the preservation and renovation of the synagogue. The House of God was to be led to a use that was wise and in line with its dignity. The use to which the building was to be led turned out to be as the new home for the town's public library, which would allow the space formerly used for worship to keep its original shape (the intermediate floors were to be torn out). In 2001, the town of Bad Sobernheim acquired the synagogue. Through a usage and maintenance agreement, the building passed into the promotional association's care. In 2002, the roof and the windows were repaired. The Family Marum's descendants donated a new Star of David for the roof. At once, several memorial events, concerts and even Jewish religious services took place inside, even though at first, it did not look very appealing. In connection with this, close contacts were developed between the promotional association, the Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland (Central Welfare Post of the Jews in Germany, represented locally by Max-Willner-Haus in Bad Sobernheim) and the Jewish worship community in Bad Kreuznach. In 2003, the first Jewish religious service in 65 years took place at the synagogue. Between 2005 and 2010, the restoration of the old synagogue was undertaken, and it was turned into the Kulturhaus Synagoge. This was festively dedicated on 30 May 2010. The address in Bad Sobernheim is Gymnasialstraße 9.^[15]

Jewish graveyard

The Jewish graveyard in Bad Sobernheim is believed to have existed since the early 19th century. Its earliest appearance in records was in the original 1825 cadastral survey. Rural cadastral names such as "Auf'm Judenkirchhof" or "In der Judendell", however, may mean that it has existed longer. If the Bad Sobernheim graveyard was only laid out in 1820 or thereabouts, it is unclear where the town's Jewish families would have buried their dead before that, although candidates include the central graveyards in Bad Kreuznach, Gemünden and Meisenheim. Registered as the graveyard's owner in 1826 was the horse dealer Philipp Werner (at the time, the Jewish community could not function as an incorporated body and thus could not own things). The graveyard was still in the Family Werner's ownership in 1860. In 1856, a field beside the Jewish graveyard was named that was in the Jewish community's ownership, which became the new annex to the graveyard (the new Sobernheim and Monzingen section). The oldest preserved gravestone is from 1829, bearing the aforesaid Philipp Werner's name. The last three burials were in the time of the Third Reich, shortly before the deportations began. Those buried were Ida and Hermann Wolf and also Jonas Haas. No further gravestones were ever placed. The graveyard's area is 6 979 m², making it the second biggest in the Bad Kreuznach district. The graveyard is divided into four parts, the old and new Sobernheim sections, the Waldböckelheim section and the Monzingen section. Standing in the Monzingen section are gravestones from the Monzingen graveyard, which was levelled in 1938. The gravestones were transferred to Bad Sobernheim. In the Waldböckelheim section, members of the Jewish community in Waldböckelheim were buried in the 19th century. There was a relationship between Waldböckelheim and Sobernheim especially in the Family Marum: Anselm Marum the Younger was born in Waldböckelheim, but he later became leader of the Jewish community in Sobernheim. The old Sobernheim section is where the dead from Sobernheim were buried in the 19th century. Beginning in 1902, the new Sobernheim section was used. The first burial there was Sara Marum, who had founded the Marum stocking factory. In the middle, among the sections, stands the 1950 monument where the memorial tablet to the fallen from the First World War is set. This was to be found at the synagogue (see Synagogue above) until 1938, and it was replaced with a replica in 2005. There was another, smaller Jewish graveyard at the northwest edge of the town graveyard "Auf Löhborn", behind the chapel, that was laid out in 1925. This new burying ground was secured through community leader Leopold Loeb's efforts. Buried there were his wife's siblings and in 1930, Loeb himself. In 1937 – in the time of the Third Reich – the dead buried at this graveyard had to be removed and buried once again at the "Domberg" graveyard. Within the municipal graveyard, Jews were now "unwanted". During the time of the Third Reich, the "Domberg" graveyard was heavily defiled and ravaged. The worst destruction happened on Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), wrought by 10 or 15 men, mostly Brownshirt thugs. They threw the gravestones about and shattered stones and inscription tablets. Quite a few pieces of stone were rolled down the hill or thrown over into neighbouring fields. Parts of the graveyard (among them the left side of the Waldböckelheim section) were then or in the time that followed almost utterly removed. After 1945, the stones – wherever possible – were put back up, but this left some of the stones in the older sections no longer standing in their original places. Many bits of rubble could not be identified and therefore could not be placed. On 15 October 1950, the memorial was dedicated, and now remembers not only the local Jews who fell in the First World War but also those Jews from Bad Sobernheim who died. Even after 1945, the graveyard was defiled several times – at least four – the last time in January 1983, when some 40 gravestones were thrown about and heavily damaged. The plaque at the graveyard reads as follows:

Jewish graveyards “Auf dem Domberg” in Sobernheim. In 1343, the first Jewish fellow townsfolk in Sobernheim were mentioned in documents. Their burial places are unknown. Likely their burials took place outside the town wall. In Napoleonic times about 1800, there was a new burial order. Thereafter, no more dead could be buried in residential areas. At about the same time as the graveyard “Auf Löhborn” was laid out, so was the Jewish graveyard “Auf dem Domberg”. The oldest gravestone comes from 1829. The graveyard is made up of three parts. In the oldest part, the dead are buried with their heads towards Jerusalem, thus eastwards. In the middle part of the graveyard, the dead were buried turned towards the synagogue, which can be seen well from the graveyard. Since the former Jewish graveyard at Monzingen was closed at the NSDAP’s instigation, the available stones from Monzingen were “symbolically” set up at the Sobernheim graveyard. Also worthy of mention is the tablet at the graveyard honouring the fallen Jewish soldiers from the First World War 1914-18. Beginning in 1930, Jewish families buried their dead at the town graveyard “Auf Löhborn”. On the NSDAP’s orders in 1933-34, exhumations of the buried Jews were carried out, and they were eventually buried at the Jewish graveyard “Auf dem Domberg”. With regard to the care of graves, Jewish people have different customs to Christians. After setting the gravestone, the rest of the dead should for ever be undisturbed. It is customary to plant ivy or periwinkle on the graves. When visiting a relative’s grave, one lays a stone on the gravestone, or on the anniversary of his death, a grave candle is lit. The graveyard is closed on all Saturdays as well as on all Jewish holidays.

The Jewish graveyard lies on the Domberg (mountain) east of the town centre, not far from the road "Auf dem Kolben".^[16]