The New Synagogue (Central Berlin)

Between the years 1859 and 1866, in response to the growth of Berlin’s Jewish population, the Jewish community built a new synagogue, the Neue Synagoge (New Synagogue), at 30 Oranienburger Strasse. Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck attended the inauguration ceremony on September 5, 1866. The synagogue’s architecture resembled the Eastern Moorish style; it was equipped with a dodecagonal, gilded cupola and had 3,200 seats; the building also housed a small weekday synagogue and offices. The synagogue’s services were liberal in format and there was an organ and a choir. Rabbi Malvin Warschauer and the congregation’s chief chazzan, Leo Gollanin, presided there for over 30 years. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), SA men set the building’s vestibule on fire, but a police officer ordered the fire brigade to save the synagogue, which was a famous monument. In 1939, Nazis ordered that the cupola be painted black. The synagogue, used for services until the German army seized it in 1940, was damaged during a bombing raid. Most of the synagogue’s ruins were demolished in 1958. A memorial plaque was affixed to the front of the building in 1966, and reconstruction of the synagogue commenced in 1988. In May 1995, the Centrum Judaicum Foundation was opened there; the building now accommodates a conservative synagogue, a library and a museum.

Heidemarie Wawrzyn

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

Notes

Sources: Synagogen in Berlin: Zur Geschichte einer zerstörten Architektur, Rolf Bothe [Ed.], [publisher] Willmürth Arenhövel, 1983., Guide to Jewish Berlin: History and the Present, Vera Bendt, Nicola Galliner Thomas Jersch, Stefi Jersch-Wenzel, Carolin Hilker-Siebenhaar [Ed.], [Publisher] Verlag Nicolai, 1987., W-E, W-G, www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/berlin-new- synagogue

Details

Date Added	Jan 22, 2020
Category	Synagogue
Country	DE
State	Berlin
City	Berlin
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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The New Synagogue (Central Berlin)

Heidemarie Wawrzyn

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

Notes

Details

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