The Great Synagogue of Warsaw ( pl, Wielka Synagoga w Warszawie) was one of the grandest
synagogues
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wors ...
constructed in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
in the 19th century. At the time of its opening, it was the largest Jewish house of worship in the world. It was located on
Tłomackie street in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
.
The synagogue served the acculturated elite of Warsaw's Jewry. Like other such prayer houses in Central and Eastern Europe, its worship was conducted in a relatively modernized fashion, although it did not approach ideological religious reform. Sermons were delivered in Polish rather than Yiddish, an all-male choir accompanied the service, and an organ had been installed, which played only at weddings. Liturgy and other principled issues remained wholly untouched.
It was opened on 26 September 1878 in celebration of
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
(Jewish New Year).
It was blown up personally by SS-Gruppenführer
Jürgen Stroop
Jürgen Stroop (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era, who served as SS and Police Leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 194 ...
on 16 May 1943. This was the last act of destruction by the Germans in suppressing the Revolt of the
Jewish ghetto in Warsaw.
History
The Great Synagogue was built by the Warsaw's
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
community between 1875 and 1878 at
Tłomackie street, in the south-eastern tip of the district in which the
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
were allowed to settle by the
Russian Imperial
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
authorities of
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
. The main
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
was
Leandro Marconi Leandro Marconi (1834–1919) was a Polish architect, active mainly in Warsaw. His father was Enrico Marconi, also a famed architect associated with that city, while his cousin was Leonard Marconi, a sculptor.
He was born Leandro Jan Ludwik Marco ...
.
After the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...
, on May 16, 1943 the
SS blew up the building. It was not rebuilt after the war, when few Jews remained or returned to Warsaw after
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...
by the Nazis.
''SS-Gruppenführer''
Jürgen Stroop
Jürgen Stroop (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era, who served as SS and Police Leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 194 ...
later recalled:
What a marvelous sight it was. A fantastic piece of theater. My staff and I stood at a distance. I held the electrical device which would detonate all the charges simultaneously. Jesuiter called for silence. I glanced over at my brave officers and men, tired and dirty, silhouetted against the glow of the burning buildings. After prolonging the suspense for a moment, I shouted: 'Heil Hitler' and pressed the button. With a thunderous, deafening bang and a rainbow burst of colors, the fiery explosion soared toward the clouds, an unforgettable tribute to our triumph over the Jews. The Warsaw Ghetto was no more. The will of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
and Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
had been done.
Since the 1980s, the site was redeveloped for construction of a large
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
, devoted mostly to office space. It was once known as the Golden Skyscraper and is currently commonly referred to as the
Blue Skyscraper ( pl, Błękitny Wieżowiec).
Gallery
File:Nowa synagoga w Warszawie, inaugurowana uroczyście d. 26 b. m. (58848).jpg, Synagogue just after it was built in 1878
File:Wielka Synagoga na Tłomackiem pomiędzy 1915 a 1918.jpg, Photograph of the Great Synagogue, c. 1915
File:Tlomackie synagoga 03.jpg, Plan of the structure
File:Great Synagogue in Warsaw (03).jpg, Interior
File:Tlomackie synagoga.jpg, View from Tłomackie street
File:Baruch Steinberg Wielka Synagoga na Tłomackiem.jpg, Rabbi Baruch Steinberg
Baruch or Boruch Steinberg (17 December 1897–after 9 April 1940) was a Polish rabbi and military officer. He was Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army during German invasion of Poland and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 and was murdered by the Soviet ...
speaking before Great Synagogue (1933), reading roll call of the fallen, organized by Union of Jewish Fighters for Polish Independence
File:Wielka Nieobecna Replika Wielkiej Synagogi na Tłomackiem 2013.JPG, Replica of the synagogue built in Warsaw to mark 70th anniversary of its destruction (2013)
File:Warsawsynagoga1.jpg, Model of synagogue in Beit Hatfusot, the Museum of the Jewish People, Tel-Aviv
File:Blekitny Wiezowiec in Warsaw.jpg, Former site of the synagogue, the Blue Skyscraper
See also
*
Nożyk Synagogue
*
Moses Schorr
Moses Schorr, Polish: Mojżesz Schorr (May 10, 1874 – July 8, 1941) was a rabbi, Polish history, Polish historian, politician, Biblical criticism, Bible scholar, Assyriology, assyriologist and Oriental studies, orientalist. Schorr was one of th ...
References
External links
Great Synagogue in Warsawat Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Virtual Shtetl.
Pictures of the synagogue
{{Authority control
Synagogues completed in 1878
Synagogues in Warsaw
Neoclassical synagogues
Synagogues in Poland destroyed by Nazi Germany
Buildings and structures in Poland destroyed during World War II
1878 establishments in Europe