The Wünsdorf mosque ( German: Moschee Wünsdorf ) was located in the city of Wünsdorf [1] in 1915-1930. It was located on the territory of the "Crescent Camp" , where Muslim prisoners of war from the colonial troops of the British and French armies were kept. It is considered the oldest mosque in Germany.
| Mosque | |
| Wünsdorf Mosque | |
|---|---|
| him. Moschee wünsdorf | |
| A country |  Germany |
| City | Wünsdorf |
| Build Date | 1915 year |
| Key dates | |
| 1930 - demolition | |
| Number of Domes | one |
| Dome Diameter | 12 meters |
| The number of minarets | one |
| Minaret height | 23 meters |
| Material | tree |
Content
History
On November 11, 1914, the German ambassador in Istanbul, Hans von Wangenheim, announced to Berlin about the desire of Sultan Mehmed V to build a mosque in Germany for Muslim prisoners of war. The strategy of the German jihad against the colonial powers of the Entente on the idea of Max von Oppenheim seemed attractive to the authorities of the belligerent empire [2] , and in February 1915 the war ministry issued a permit. In five weeks, Stiebitz und Köpchen from Charlottenburg erected a wooden mosque building, spending 45,000 gold marks. It was the first mosque in Germany. [3]
The eclectic building of the Wünsdorf mosque deliberately combined elements of Islamic structures in Spain, the Dome of the Rock , Ottoman buildings and even the Taj Mahal . The building had a polygon at the base, the central prayer hall with a dome was equipped with a gallery around the perimeter, the complex also included a bathing room, a mihrab and a minaret . There was a fountain in the square courtyard. The exterior walls and interior were painted with ivory oil paint with red and gray stripes. The floor of the prayer room was lined with stone, on which rugs were spread. The central dome of the mosque had a diameter of 12 meters, the height of the minaret - 23 meters.
The first mosque in Germany was opened on July 13, 1915, with the beginning of Ramadan in the presence of Turkish diplomat Mahmoud Mukhtar Pasha . At the end of World War I, Muslim prisoners gradually returned to their homeland, a group of 90 Muslims remained in the two barracks of the camp, who, with the consent of the authorities, continued their religious life in Wünsdorf.
In 1924, the first stone of the new Ahmadiyya Mosque was laid in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin . The wooden mosque lost its significance, and the Society of Islamic Worship in 1927 decided to sell the mosque in Wünsdorf to the German state for 10,000 Reichsmarks in order to spend these funds on the new building. In 1928, the construction of Ahmadiyya in Wilmersdorf was completed, the wooden mosque was demolished in 1930.
A hundred years later, in preparation for the construction of a new refugee reception center, archaeological work was carried out on the site of the Wünsdorf mosque. During the excavations, the remains of the central building and the north porch, as well as the remains of a brick foundation, water supply and drainage systems, were discovered. In addition, metal items of mosque decoration and colored glass parts of the dome windows were found. The existence of the first and oldest mosque in Germany is reminiscent of a memorial information board and the name of the street that passes in its place - the Mosque ( German Moscheestraße ).
Notes
- ↑ Since 2003, Wünsdorf has been part of the city of Zossen .
- ↑ Die Zeit: Crescent Moon over Brandenburg (German)
- ↑ Gerhard Höpp: Die Wünsdorfer Moschee: Eine Episode islamischen Lebens in Deutschland, 1915-1930 in: Die Welt des Islams, New Ser., Jg. 36, Nr. 2 (Jul., 1996), pp. 204–218.
Literature
- Martin Gussone . Die Moschee im Wünsdorfer Halbmondlager. Zwischen Ğihād-Propaganda und Orientalismus. In: Beiträge zur islamischen Kunst und Archäologie 2/2010. S. 204-231.
- Torsten Dressler et al. Halbmond über Wünsdorf. Moschee im Kriegsgefangenenlager 1915. In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Archäologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit 30.2017. S. 125-136.
- Wünsdorf mosque. The episode of Islamic life in Germany 1915-1930. Gasyrlar Avazy. No. 1/2 1997. ISSN 2073-7483