While
this building is no longer a place of worship, it
has been restored to its former glory as a museum
documenting Jewish life in the area. When it opened
in 1866, it could seat three thousand and its size
and Moorish dome were a reflection of the vitality
of the neighborhood. Women sat in the balcony which
could accommodate 1,000 people. It was damaged in
the 1938 Kristallnacht, but was prevented from being
burned down by a lone police officer. It was just
a few blocks away that the Nazis set up a staging
area for the deportation of Jews to concentration
camps. Further damage took place just two years later
when the army used it as a military clothing store,
and then again in 1943 when it was hit by Allied bombs.
By 1958 it was a ruin, and was torn down with the
exception of its façade and entrance. Today, in addition
to the museum of Jewish life, it serves as the archives
of the Centrum Judaicum Neue Synagoge Foundation,
and a Jewish adult education center (Juedische Volkshochschule.)
