Here’s a switch!
A deconsecrated Protestant church in Germany will be converted into a synagogue to serve a Jewish community that was revived in 1998 and now numbers about 400.
Deutsche Welle reports that the Schlosskirche, in Cottbuss, will be converted into a synagogue to be dedicated officially on Jan. 27, 2015 — the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and the date marked as International Holocaust Memorial Day. The church as been used for decades “for social activities and projects.”
In a symbolic handing-over of keys on Sunday, the Jewish community of Cottbus in Brandenburg, northeast Germany, was presented with the premises for a new synagogue – the first to exist in the city since November 9, 1938. The night, which came to be known as “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass,” saw a series of coordinated attacks throughout Nazi Germany and Austria against Jewish homes, synagogues, businesses, schools and hospitals.
It is rare for a church to be converted into a synagogue.
But dozens of synagogues in Europe — empty after their congregants were killed in the Holocaust — were converted into churches after World War II. This was particularly so in the Czech Republic, where the surviving Jewish community turned about 40 synagogues over to Christian denominations. But the practice also is fairly common in the United States.
Also, in past centuries synagogues were often converted into churches after Jews were expelled from towns and cities in various parts of Europe.