Kristallnacht anniversary 2021: countering memories of destruction with images of wonderful surviving — and restored — synagogues

We’ve made it a JHE tradition.

Last night — night of November 9-10 — marked the  83st anniversary of the so-called Kristallnacht pogrom — Reichspogromnacht — in 1938, when the Nazis launched coordinated violent attacks on Jews, Jewish property and Jewish places of worship all over Germany and German-occupied territory: more than 1,000 synagogues were torched that night; at least 7,000 Jewish businesses were devastated; nearly 100 Jews were killed and tens of thousands of Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. In the following years, hundreds — thousands — more synagogues and prayer houses were damaged or destroyed during World War II, and even after the War ended, hundreds more were either destroyed, left derelict and abandoned or converted for other use that totally obscured their original identity.

We feel that a powerful way to mark the  anniversary is to counter the memory of destruction with images of some of the beautiful synagogues that still stand in Europe — or that have been renovated and refurbished — or that have been newly built. Some are used regularly for religious services; most have been converted for cultural use.  (Most of the photos here are of synagogues that are owned by Jewish communities and used at least occasionally for religious purposes.)