The Centrum Judaicum was reopened in 1995 after a seven-year reconstruction phase. Today the iconic building is a Berlin landmark, a museum and once again the seat of the Jewish Community of Berlin – and an internationally renowned place of remembrance. The permanent exhibition “Tuet auf die Pforten” (“Door to the Gates”) on the history […]
Symbolic Cornerstone Ceremony
In the 1980s, the East Berlin Jewish community increasingly brought forward the idea of establishing a Jewish museum on the site of the New Synagogue. In the run-up to the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the November pogroms, foreign policy considerations in particular led to the establishment of the New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum […]
The New Synagogue of Berlin on November 9/10, 1938
What exactly happened in and around the New Synagogue in the night of November 9 to 10, 1938 is not entirely clear. What is certain is that National Socialist and marauding groups gained access to the building, wreaked havoc, and began setting fires. However, the New Synagogue did not burn down that night. Contemporary witnesses […]
A House Called Love
From the open space of the New Synagogue Foundation, where the synagogue’s main hall used to be, one can see a vacant, red brick building: the former children’s home Ahawa (Love). Designed by the architect Eduard Knoblauch, who, a short time later, was also responsible for the design of the New Synagogue, the building initially […]
Liberal Judaism—From Germany and Berlin across the globe
Religious interpretation and practice in the New Synagogue corresponded to liberal Judaism, which became the dominant direction in Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century. This included various elements, such as the use of the German language in the liturgy, an organ and, since 1895, a choir, consisting not only of men but […]
Louis Lewandowski
“Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov” (How beautiful are your tents, Jacob) is the opening line of a prayer that is said upon entering a synagogue and is therefore found as an inscription above many synagogue portals. The setting of this prayer to music by Louis Lewandowski for a four-voice choir, a cantor solo, and organ accompaniment […]
Inauguration of the New Synagogue Berlin
At its inauguration in 1866, the New Synagogue Berlin was described by the non-Jewish press as “the pride of Berlin’s Jewish community, and even more than this, […] an adornment of the city.” With its almost fairy-tale-like, exotic-looking forms and ornaments, the new magnificent building not only exuded elegance and beauty; with its use of […]