The former synagogue survived the pogrom night of 1938 and has now been freshly restored to its former beauty.
Spirituality has many faces in the border triangle of Upper Lusatia, Bohemia, and Lower Silesia. In addition to Christian sites of great cultural and historical significance, the region was also home to Jewish life for centuries. The magnificent New Synagogue in Görlitz, built in 1911, is a rare surviving monument to this period. It survived the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938 with comparatively minor damage – the fire was extinguished.
Designed by the renowned Dresden architectural firm Lossow & Kühne, the building remained unused for a long time after the Shoah. Extensive renovation work only began in 1991. Thanks to federal funding, the building was ceremoniously reopened in 2021 as the Görlitz Synagogue Cultural Forum – as opulent and beautiful as it was at its opening 110 years earlier.
Today, the synagogue is the only surviving large community synagogue in Saxony – a silent monument to Jewish history and part of the Via Sacra.
This point is also a stop on our audio guide.
