Efforts to Restore Old Synagogue Doomed to Failure; $10,000 Needed for Renovations Not Available

Efforts by a New Jersey man to restore an 88-year-old synagogue in the West German town of Hechingen appeared doomed to failure today by his inability to raise the $10,000 needed to buy the building from its present owner and a similar amount to renovate it.

The synagogue, built in 1884, was gutted by the Nazis on “Kristal Nacht,” Nov. 9, 1938, though it was one of the few synagogues not burned to the ground. It was expropriated along with all Jewish property in the town. The Nazis planned to rebuild it as a sports arena but abandoned the plan when war broke out and used the building as a storehouse. In 1946 the West German government returned the synagogue and the Jewish community center to the Jewish community of Stuttgart, the nearest large city.

But in 1952 it was sold to Arthur Fausner, a 49-year-old Jew who used the premises as a lumber warehouse. Fauser also purchased the community center, converting it to a six-family apartment house which he sold to German businessmen in 1971. Fauser now wants to sell the synagogue and a former classmate of his, Heinz Hofheimer, who lives in New Jersey, offered to buy it if he could raise the money.

He appealed to the Stuttgart Jewish community for help after Mayor Norbert Roth of Hechingen told him the municipality could not provide financial assistance. The Jewish community, however, is not interested in restoring the synagogue because there are few Jews left in Hechingen who would make use of it.

Fauser said there are many deserted synagogues in the Baden-Wuertemberg region but not enough Jews left to warrant the cost of restoring them. Hofheimer has written to the Central Council of Jews in Germany asking for financial help but has not yet received an answer. Fauser said he could wait only until late summer for Hofheimer to raise the money.