Synagogue

The Old Synagogue in Potsdam was built between 1900 and 1903 according to plans by Otto Kerwien and was consecrated on June 17, 1903. It was destroyed during the Second World War and demolished in the 1950s.

The construction of the new synagogue in Potsdam is a controversial topic. It is about erecting a religious building in a historical and political metropolis. The challenges of reviving Jewish life in Germany become clear through these discussions, and in 2012 the plan was concretized and the state government made a plot of land in the city center available. Several architectural competitions were held. The synagogue was to have not only a religious, but also a cultural center. However, the first designs met with resistance.

There had been a synagogue in Fürstenberg/Havel since the 18th century. The first evidence of prayers in Fürstenberg dates back to 1764. In the same year, the Jewish community began to ask the duke for permission to buy a house due to increasing membership numbers. They received permission on May 28, 1777, and after 11 years the synagogue was put on record as the purchased house was in need of repair due to water damage. In 1788, a new synagogue was built on a plot of land in the western part of the town.

The New Synagogue on the corner of Askanische Straße and Kantorstraße was built as a successor to the synagogue destroyed in 1938. It is considered the first new synagogue to be built in Saxony-Anhalt since German reunification.

After the devastating 30-year war, a small Jewish community settled in Unterfarrnbach around 1700. The Judenhof was located in the area of today's Unterfarrnbacher Straße 152 – 164. It included several small dwellings and a Jewish school (No. 158), i.e. a prayer room with a mikvah, a ritual bath. … After the middle of the 19th century there was no longer a Jewish community. ...

In Trieblitz / Třebívlice there was a small Israelite community, which was dissolved at the beginning of the 20th century.

The construction of a synagogue was prepared in 1821 by the Jewish religious community of Swinoujscie. The merchant Isenthal extended the rear building of his home (Große Kirchenstraße, today Grunwaldzka) and made the new premises available to the Jewish community. This space soon became too small.  An application made by the Jewish community in 1853 to the state for support in the construction of a synagogue was initially rejected due to the insufficient number of members.