Kłodzko Synagogue

The Synagogue of Kłodzko[3] was located in Kłodzko (former German name: Glatz), in Kłodzko County in Lower Silesia, Poland. The synagogue was built 1884–1885 on the Grünestraße (Green Street), now Wojska Polskiego Street, but was destroyed in 1938 during the Nazi Kristallnacht anti-Jewish pogrom.[1]

Synagogue of Kłodzko
Synagoge in Glatz
Religion
AffiliationReform Judaism
StatusDestroyed on 9 November 1938 (November Pogrom)
Location
Locationul. Wojska Polskiego, Kłodzko, Poland
Architecture
Architect(s)Albert Grau
TypeSynagogue
StyleMoorish Revival-
Brick-Gothic Revival
Completed1885[1][2]
Specifications
Direction of façadewest
Capacity254 seats and a place for women[1]
Dome(s)1

History

The synagogue was built on the initiative of the Progressive Jews, according to the plans of architect Albert Grau (1837–1900) of Breslau (now Wrocław), a student of Georg Gottlob Ungewitter, in the style of the Neo-Moorish and Brick-neo-Gothic.[1][2][4]

From 1742 Kłodzko was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, then Germany, until Silesia became Polish under border changes promulgated at the 1945 Potsdam Conference. During the November Pogrom (9 November 1938), termed "Kristallnacht" in German Nazi propaganda, the synagogue was destroyed in an arson attack by German Nazi gangs.[1]

Memory

Reinhard Schindler, a former Glatz citizen, developed the idea of having a memorial stone placed for the synagogue. The memorial stone was erected in 1995 with an anodised aluminum plaque in Polish, Hebrew and German commemorating the destroyed synagogue.[5] The inscription reads:

Here stood the Glatz synagogue, desecrated and burned by the Nazis in the Pogrom Night of November 9, 1938.
Former German and current Polish citizens in 1995 – 50 years after the end of the war.

Sculpture
Kłodzko Synagogue cast-aluminium sculpture; view from south

In the years 2015–2016, the German sculptor Gerhard Roese of Darmstadt created a sculpture of the synagogue made of cast aluminium[6][7] weighing approx. 100 kilograms (220 lb). The collected materials, plans and sketches, together with photos and a description of the burning of the temple, was published as a book by Roese under the title: Decalogue on Fire. The artistic work under the same title includes the sculpture of the synagogue, a sculpture of the Ten Commandments above the portal, and a sculpture of one of the cast-iron gallery columns that collapsed during the fire in its rubble and ash bed. In addition, fifteen 1 × 1 meter (3.3 × 3.3 foot) large panels of photographs by Günter Veit and a synagogue with a fragment of a Torah scroll, probably stolen in Poland by a member of the Wehrmacht.[1][8] In May 2018, Roese brought the entire work to Kłodzko with the help of a group of young people and donated it to the city.[7] The sculpture and other materials from the exhibition of Roese were also in 2018 in the project Topography of Terror installed in Berlin and published in a catalog.[6][9]

Synagogue Revival
Gerhard Roese presents a sculpture of the synagogue in the Museum of the Kłodzko Land. Photo by Tomasz Gmerek

On the anniversary of the Reichsprogromnacht, also Kristallnacht on November 8, 2018, the Muzem Ziemi Kłodzkiej w Kłodzku (Museum of the Kłodzko Land), together with the sculptor from Darmstadt and the Polish activists Michał Cyprys, Henryk Grzybowski, Mieczysław Kowalcze and Grzegorz Sadowski, hosted an event commemorating the terror of 80 years ago and the former Jewish community under the motto Synagoga Reviva. Gerhard Roese talked about his idea and implementation of the sculpture model of the synagogue.[6][10]

Students from various schools in Kłodzko and a group of adults participated. They learned what is known about the structure and its destruction today, as well as that of two surviving ladies, Ruth Prager and Shoshana Efrati, who had visited the synagogue in their childhood. Henryk Grzybowski told about their fate from former Glatz, to Chile and Israel.[6][10]

After a small concert with Yiddish and Hebrew songs performed by Sylwia Grzybowska, those in attendance went to the synagogue memorial stone and lit candles.[6][10]

Commemorative plaque

On January 26, 2019, a commemorative plaque with content in three languages was stolen from its stone.[11] On March 22, 2019, a new stone tablet financed from contributions from the community of Kłodzko and former German residents was unveiled.[12]

References
  1. Grzybowski, Henryk (2 February 2016). "Nieoczekiwane wskrzeszenie kłodzkiej synagogi" [Unexpected revival of the Kłodzko synagogue]. Gazeta Prowincjonalna Ziemi Kłodzkiej (in Polish). Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  2. Łuczyński, Romuald Mariusz (2006). Chronologia dziejów Dolnego Śląska (in Polish). Wrocław: Oficyna Wydawnicza Atut – Wrocławskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe. p. 448. ISBN 83-7432-095-8.
  3. "Gerhard Roese".
  4. Borkowski, Maciej; Kirmiel, Andrzej; Włodarczyk, Tamara (2008). Śladami Żydów. Dolny Śląsk, Opolszczyzna, Ziemia Lubuska (in Polish). Warsaw: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich. p. 34. ISBN 978-83-928380-0-5.
  5. "Obelisk upamiętniający synagogę" [Synagogue commemorative obelisk]. Polska niezwykła (in Polish). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  6. Grzybowski, Henryk (12 November 2018). "Synagoga reviva. Upamiętnienie synagogi kłodzkiej" [Synagogue reviva. Commemoration of the Kłodzko synagogue] (in Polish). Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  7. Breckner, Johannes (24 May 2018). "Darmstädter Bildhauer Gerhard Roese verschenkt Kunstwerk an die Stadt Klodzko" [Gerhard Roese, the sculptor of Darmstadt donated his masterpiece to the city of Kłodzko] (in German). Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  8. Roese, Gerhard (2017). Decalogue on Fire (PDF). Darmstadt: Justus von Liebig Verlag. ISBN 978-3-87390-390-6.
  9. ""Kristallnacht" – Antijüdischer Terror 1938. Ereignisse und Erinnerung; 7. November 2018 bis 3. März 2019" ["Kristallnacht" — Anti-Jewish Terror 1938. Events and Remembrance]. topographie.de (in German). Stiftung Topographie des Terrors. 4 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  10. Gmerek, Tomasz (17 December 2018). "Synagoga reviva. Zdjęcia" [Synagoga reviva with pictures] (in Polish). Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  11. Bednarz, Damian (30 January 2019). "Skandal w Kłodzku! Zginęła tablica upamiętniająca spaloną synagogę" [Scandal in Kłodzko! A plaque commemorating the burnt synagogue was lost]. naszemiasto.pl (Press release) (in Polish). Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  12. Wrona, Jarosław (3 April 2019). "Nowa tablica upamiętniająca kłodzką synagogę" [A new plaque commemorating the Kłodzko synagogue]. Telewizja Sudecka (Press release) (in Polish). Retrieved 13 November 2019.

  • Synagogue (on the left)
  • Synagogue (on the left)
  • Horizontal projection of the west facade
  • Gerhard Roese. Kłodzko Synagogue cast-aluminium sculpture; view from the street
  • Synagogue after Kristallnacht
  • Synagogue inside after Kristallnacht
  • The memorial stone after the synagogue
  • The memorial stone without the commemorative plaque
  • The new commemorative plaque
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