Synagogue

Today's district of Worms has a centuries-long independent tradition, at times as a Free Imperial City, which is still reflected in the townscape.

Jews certainly lived here before 1444, but in 1470 all Jews were expelled from the Electoral Palatinate, thus also from Pfeddersheim. Only with the end of the 30-year war in 1648 there is again concrete information about the presence and activity of Jews. However, a Jewish religious community was not founded until 1834. Until then, Jews oriented themselves either to Worms or to Grünstadt, where they attended the synagogues there.

What a contrast to the synagogue of 1827, which was still hidden in a backyard: In 1870, the New Synagogue by the eminent Jewish architect Edwin Oppler was inaugurated on an open square in Hanover's Neustadt. In its size and the chosen architectural style, the new building expressed a growing self-confidence and the belief that as Jews they had arrived in German society on an equal footing. For, Oppler said, "The Romanesque style is German through and through."

In 1882, the Jewish merchant Julius Oppenheim bought the property at Lützowstraße 16. He owned other properties on the corner of Potsdamer Straße and gave part of the site to the Jewish community shortly before 1896. The community had the tenements there demolished and built a typical synagogue center with residential and school buildings facing the street and a synagogue in the backyard. With its red brick facade, the ensemble resembled the church buildings that were being built at the time. In the house, Jews prayed according to the liberal rite, that is, with organ accompaniment.

Dating from 1553, this is Kraków's smallest but most active synagogue, with Shabbat services once again taking place here each Friday following the recent completion of restoration works. The synagogue was established by the family of the famous 16th century Polish rabbi Moses Isserles - better known as 'the Rema,' based on a Hebrew acronym, and is unique for the proximity of the Old Jewish Cemetery adjacent to it.