The Old Synagogue () was the largest synagogue and cultural center of the Jewish community in
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
, Germany.
The synagogue was opened in 1900. With a capacity of 1,300 seats it was one of the largest Jewish houses of worship in Germany.
After the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
gained power in 1933, the local government forced the Jewish community to sell the property and decided to demolish the synagogue.
The proceeds from the sale were seized by the Nazi regime. Demolition works began a few weeks before the
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 from ...
and were finished in December 1938.
In 1958–1965 the new
Opernhaus Dortmund
Opernhaus Dortmund is the opera house of Dortmund, Germany, operated by the Theater Dortmund organisation. A new opera house opened in 1966, replacing an earlier facility which opened in 1904 and was destroyed during World War I. It was built o ...
was built on the site where the synagogue once stood. Since 1998 the forecourt is officially known as ''Platz der Alten Synagoge'' ("Place of the Old Synagogue") and a memorial stone as well as a memorial plaque was erected.
References
External links
Über Benno Jacob – Rabbiner in Dortmund 1906–1929Jüdisches Leben in Europa jenseits der Metropolen
{{coord, 51.5108, N, 7.4617, E, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:DE, display=title
Former synagogues in Germany
Synagogues in North Rhine-Westphalia
Demolished buildings and structures in Dortmund