Hier wohnte Samuel Lampel von 1918 bis 1936 mit seiner Frau Rosa, geborene Grünberg, geb. 1882 und ihrem Sohn Werner (1919‒1992).

Samuel Lampel wurde am 3. Februar 1884 in Berlin geboren. Von 1904 bis 1914 war er Lehrer an der Israelitischen Erziehungs-Anstalt Ahlem bei Hannover. 1914 kam Lampel nach Leipzig, wo er eine Stellung als Musiklehrer an der Höheren Israelitischen Schule (Ephraim-Carlebach-Schule) und als Kantor an der liberalen Großen Gemeindesynagoge in der Gottschedstraße erhielt. 1920 wurde er zum Hauptkantor und 1927 zum Oberkantor berufen. Seine liturgischen Kompositionen für Kantor, Chor und Orgel erschienen 1928 im Leipziger Verlag M. W. Kauffmann. Nach der Zerstörung der Großen Gemeindesynagoge im November 1938 wirkte Lampel als Kantor und auch als Rabbiner an der im April 1939 wieder geweihten Brodyer Synagoge in der Keilstraße. Bis Juni 1942 war er weiterhin als Lehrer an der Carlebach-Schule tätig.

Am 13. Juli 1942 wurde das Ehepaar Lampel nach Osten deportiert und vermutlich in Auschwitz ermordet.

Samuel Lampel was born out of wedlock on February 3, 1884 in Berlin and grew up with foster parents in Berlin’s Scheunenviertel. In 1895 a charity supported his admission to the Ahlem Israelite Educational Institution near Hanover. In 1897 he moved to the free school of the Meyer-Michael-David Foundation in Hanover. After attending school and studies at the teachers‘ college, Lampel worked as a teacher in Ahlem from 1904 to 1914, where he also conducted the school choir. His musical mentor became the cantor of the synagogue community in Hanover, music teacher and composer Alfred Rose (1855‒1919), who inspired Lampel’s first compositions.

In 1914, Lampel was employed in Leipzig as a music teacher at the Higher Jewish School (Ephraim Carlebach School) and as a cantor at the liberal Great Community Synagogue on Gottschedstrasse. In 1920 he was appointed main cantor and in 1927 senior cantor. In 1928 he published a part of his compositions, a collection of 57 liturgical songs for cantor, mixed choir and organ, under the title Kol Sch’muel („Samuel’s Voice“). Together with the choirmaster Barnet Licht (1874‒1951) and the second cantor Max Jaffé (1887‒1942), Lampel organized guided tours, lectures and concerts in the synagogue. From around 1926 onwards he made synagogue music programs for the Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk AG (MIRAG). Some of his articles accompanying the broadcast were printed in the Gemeindeblatt, the community bulletin of the Jewish community in Leipzig.

Samuel Lampel had been married to Rosa Grünberg (1882–1942) from Hanover since around 1916. Rosa Lampel was involved in the charity association of the community. In 1919 their son Werner was born, who attended the König-Albert-Gymnasium, a state humanistic school, from 1928 to 1937 and was able to play the piano and organ.

After the destruction of the Great Community Synagogue in November 1938, Lampel worked until June 1942 as a cantor and ‒ after the arrest resp. the emigration of the community rabbis – also as a rabbi at the Brody synagogue on Keilstraße, which was reconsecrated in April 1939 and which had survived as part of a residential building. Until the end of June 1942 he also taught at the Carlebach School.

In 1936 the Lampel couple moved into an apartment on Fregestr. 7. A few years later, probably late 1939, the forced admission took place to one of the 47 so-called „Judenhäuser“, Leibnizstr. 30. In January 1942, the Gestapo began deporting Jews from Leipzig to concentration camps. On July 13, 1942, Rosa and Samuel Lampel were deported “to the East” along with about 170 other Leipzig Jews. Nothing is known about their further fate, they were probably murdered in Auschwitz.

Werner Lampel emigrated to Great Britain in March 1939. He served in the British military during World War II, changed his name to Herbert Walter Langford and became a British citizen in 1946. He converted to the Anglican Church and started a family. After studying history and ancient languages at the University of London and being educated at Wells Theological College, he became a minister. Herbert Walter Langford died on July 26, 1992.

In 1992 a street in Leipzig-Mockau was named after Samuel Lampel. In 2014, the Leipziger Synagogalchor took over the sponsorship of two stumbling stones for Rosa and Samuel Lampel in front of the Tschaikowskistr. 23. Lampel’s musical legacy is part of the permanent repertoire of the Leipziger Synagogalchor.

Literature:
Samuel Lampel: Kol Sch’muel. Synagogengesänge für Kantor und gemischten Chor mit und ohne Begleitung der Orgel. Leipzig: M. W. Kauffmann, 1928.

Samuel Lampel: Etwas über synagogale Musik. In: Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinde zu Leipzig, Nr. 11 vom 12. März 1926, S. 3.

Samuel Lampel: Aus dem Gottesdienste an den hohen Feiertagen in der Gemeindesynagoge. In: Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinde zu Leipzig, Nr. 38 vom 23. September 1927, S. 6.

Samuel Lampel: Synagogale Musik im Leipziger Rundfunk. In: Gemeindeblatt der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinde zu Leipzig, Nr. 49 vom 6. Dezember 1929, S. 3f.

Thomas Schinköth: Samuel Lampel – Kantor, Lehrer, Komponist, Publizist. Hrsg.: Leipziger Synagogalchor e. V. Berlin/Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich, 2021.

Marlis Buchholz: Samuel Lampel (1884‒1942). In: Hans-Dieter Schmid: Ahlem. Die Geschichte einer jüdischen Gartenbauschule. Bremen: Edition Temmen, 22017, S. 111f.

Rev.-Herbert-Walter-Langford-1919-1992.

Music:
Klingende Toleranz. Rekonstruktion eines Synagogenkonzertes aus Leipzig von 1926. Mit dem Leipziger Synagogalchor und dem Kammerchor Josquin des Préz, Anja Pöche, Susanne Langner, Assaf Levitin, Henrik Hochschild, Tilmann Löser, Ullrich Böhme, Leitung: Ludwig Böhme. CD querstand 2019, Booklet mit einem Text von Thomas Schinköth in Deutsch und Englisch.

Schabbat Schalom! Aus der Liturgie des Freitagabend-Gottesdienstes von Samuel Lampel, Leipzig 1928. Mit dem Leipziger Synagogalchor und Assaf Levitin, Leitung: Philipp Goldmann (in Planung für 2023).