Malmö Synagogue ( sv, Malmö synagoga, ) is the only synagogue in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

, Sweden. It was built in 1903 and designed by the architect John Smedberg. It has an Art Nouveau and

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centu ...

design, which is one of the few synagogues in Europe when most of them were destroyed during

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

1938. The services of worship are

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

. At the inauguration of Malmö Synagogue, it was Malmö's first non-Christian place of worship. Malmö has two Jewish cemeteries: one section in the northern part of Sankt Pauli kyrkogård and another, newer section in Östra kyrkogården. The synagogue attracts about 5,000 yearly visitors.

History

It started in 1871 as the fifth Jewish community established in Sweden after Stockholm, Gothenburg, Norrköping and Karlskrona. The community consisted mostly of immigrants from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

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 ...

and had an initial membership base of 251 people. Later on, more Jews fled from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and the Baltic states due to poverty, antisemitism and the threat of being drafted into the Imperial Russian Army for 25 years. The first rabbi Joseph Wohlstein was hired in 1900 and the synagogue was built in 1903. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Danish Jews fled to

which expanded the community. During the 1970s, the membership peaked with over 2,000 members which was close to 1% of Malmö's population, mostly

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 ...

from

due to a state-led anti-Semitic persecution. Ever since 1990, many members began to feel growing anti-Semitic attitudes and sentiments in

and the community has declined to a membership of about 500. In the year 2011, the Egalitarian community was established in parallel with the Orthodox community.

Events

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; ...

conference was held in Malmö in October 2021. It was an International Forum for the remembrance of the Holocaust and against antisemitism in Malmö. 44 countries participated, including Sweden's prime minister

Stefan Löfven Kjell Stefan Löfven (; officially ''Löfvén''; born 21 July 1957) is a Swedish politician who serves as the President of European Socialists since October 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sweden from October 2014 to November 20 ...

and the King of Sweden Carl Gustaf XVI. In collaboration with

Malmö Municipality Malmö Municipality ( sv, Malmö kommun), or City of Malmö (''Malmö stad''), is a Swedish municipality in Skåne County, the southernmost of the counties of Sweden (and conterminous with the historical province (''landskap'') of Scania). Whe ...

, the synagogue opened up as a knowledge center in January of 2022.

Attacks

The synagogue was attacked with explosives on July 23, 2010."Malmo Synagogue Rocked by Explosion
, Dan Verbin, July 27, 2010, Shalom Life. The explosion was caused with some kind of fireworks or firecracker containing too little gunpowder to seriously damage the building. The synagogue was attacked with an explosive device on September 28, 2012, shattering a window.

References

External links

Malmö Synagogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malmo Synagogue 21st-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations Art Nouveau synagogues Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Sweden Ashkenazi synagogues Buildings and structures in Malmö Modern Orthodox Judaism in Europe Modern Orthodox synagogues Moorish Revival synagogues Orthodox Judaism in Europe Synagogues in Sweden Art Nouveau architecture in Sweden Synagogues completed in 1903