Holešov, in the northern Moravia region of the Czech Republic, is known for the renaissance Shach synagogue (or Old Synagogue) — built the 16th century and now a Museum of Moravian Jewry.
Before WW2, another, modern, synagogue stood in the town, built in Moorish style in the early 1890s and designed by the noted architect Jakob Gartner (who designed several other synagogues, including the Status Quo synagogue in Trnava, Slovakia.)
This New Synagogue was torched and destroyed by the Nazi occupiers in 1941-42.
This video (which we have only now seen for the first time) shows that process:
The surviving Shach synagogue, on Příční Street, is well worth a visit. Originally built in 1560, it was later named for Rabbi Shabtai ben Meir Kohen, known as Shach, a noted scholar who served as rabbi here from 1648 to 1663. Opened to the public in the mid-1960s, it was one of the few synagogues fully restored in the communist period. It conserves the interior fittings, furnishings (including a central bimah with elaborate iron grille) and wall paintings dating from the 1730s. (Nearby, there is also a Jewish cemetery established in the 15th century, where Rabbi Cohen is buried.)
2 comments on “Video: WW2 Demolition of Synagogue in Holešov, CZ”
The local policemen seemed especially delighted. We were in the town in 1992 and were shown round the Shach synagogue by a very old lady from the old age home nearby. She literally had tears in her eyes as she told us about the old days before the War, when she said the Christians and Jews got on well together. When she heard that I was descended from the Shach, she kissed my wife and me, saying “Welcome home” (in German). I hope that some of the people watching the destruction were not necessarily celebrating, just watching.
Seeing this sad film of the destruction of the New Synagogue in Holesov and all of the town’s people and Nazi soldiers gleefully take turns watching the synagogue burn and then taking pick axes to its walls gives me more impetus to create a unique memorable recording this summer (June 18, 2020) in the Shach synagogue in Holesov. The local Czech collaborators and the Nazis might of destroyed the Jewish community but not the Jewish spirit that still lingers on in this town.