The Great Danzig Synagogue
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2020
- An empty plot is now the location of the former New or Great Danzig Synagogue, now Gdańsk. It was the largest synagogue in Danzig.
The first synagogue I am aware of was created near the market in Langfuhr (today Wrzeszcz), it was built in 1775 and closed in 1887. Various smaller synagogues were set up in the nineteenth century but with the construction of the Great Synagogue they closed. However the orthodox synagogues continued to operate until 1939.
The members of the reform synagogues financed the New Synagogue. It was built in 1885-1887 on Reitbahnstraße, now ul. Bogusławskiego by a company from Berlin, Ende und Boeckman, chosen by the city council.
More than 2,000 parishioners were able to participate in services and the whole building was electrically heated and illuminated, which was still unusual at the end of the 19th century, even in Germany.
The synagogue was built in the Neo-Renaissance style on the basis of a long rectangle. It had a large dome, two towers and a lantern which could be seen at night. There was a large stained glass window with the Star of David, and the spires were topped with meshed Stars of David.
Large chandeliers were hung from the dome above the main chamber which could accommodate more than 2,000 people, 1,600 seated on the benches, over 300 ladies could be in the galleries. The Aron Kodesh ark was on a pedestal behind a curtain in an apse. Above the ark, the tables of the ten commandments were supported by two stone lions. Behind it were large organs and space for a 100 person choir. The bimah was behind the pedestal.
The walls were decorated with motifs of plants, geometric symbols and Biblical verses.
The synagogue was opened with a ceremony on 15 September 1887. The scrolls of the Torah were transported in from the Old Synagogue and two other synagogues, placed in the Aron Kodesh and the Eternal Light was lit. The first service was held on 8 December 1887.
At the beginning of the 20th century the synagogue became one of the most notable centres of Reform Judaism. It had a museum, a large part of which was saved by being shipped to New York in 1939. The synagogue was well known globally, it attracted people from around the world, not only for religion but also lectures on other subjects as well as concerts.
In the 1930s there were at least two arson attempts. Both were stopped by a local militia formed largely by Jewish war veterans who initially could act with the Danzig police. Authorities initially feared that failure to protect minorities could lead to a Polish intervention, however when the Polish government made it clear that it supported the Nazi rulers in Danzig in the mid 1930s, such protection decreased.
In 1939, the archives were shipped to Jerusalem, the library to Vilnius, and the museum to the United States. At the same time, mounting fiscal pressure forced the synagogue to sell the organs to Kraków, candlesticks to Warsaw, and the benches to Gdańsk Nowy Port. In early 1939 the synagogue was sold to the senate of Danzig. On 15 April 1939, the last service was held in the building, and soon thereafter the senate took control. A banner was hung on a fence surrounding the building with the text: "Come, dear May, and free us from the Jews". On 2 May, the Nazi-dominated government began demolishing the building.
Since then the plot where it stood has been vacant. It will likely stay vacant despite being in the centre of the city only a few hundred metres from Długi Targ which is the main street.
Part of the plot belongs to the Polish secret service Urząd Ochrony Państwa and on another part a theatre was built, the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre which opened in September 2014.
However there is a synagogue today in Gdańśk. In 1996 an inauguration ceremony was held in the music school in Gdańśk Wrzeszcz, which had been a synagogue before the war. I attended this event. This community now meets at a separate location close by.
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Beautiful synagogue. Thank you 🙏
Thanks for watching Caroline!
Beautiful building.
Someone with nice athletic legs, from 0:27 to 0:34. She's put in her exercise time.
Well done. Very informative. Hope somehow that synagogue is remade some day.
It should be rebuilt...
This parking lot is terribly unsightly, there should be a park there, or at least more aesthetic pavement, more trees and bushes. Pre-war Gdańsk was a beautiful city. One has to know the history to know why this town wasn't rebuilt completely. It's a difficult history of conflicts, ambitions and political hopes.
I agree the parking lot needs cleaning up and grass cut
Too sad. Be great if it could be rebuilt
Not realistic Ronald, there are not enough people - there is a synagogue for those that want to go to it in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz.
Haw did you come up with 1000 years?
1,000 years of what?
@@HistoryonUA-cam It is your movie, LMAO.
@@rebuzz6866 And your comment LMAO.
@@HistoryonUA-cam??? If you think that you are wit, you are only in half correct.