A citizens group has launched a petition calling on city and provincial authorities in Poznan to protect the decaying former synagogue. It calls on the building’s owners to secure the building to prevent vandalism, arson, and accidents.
So far more than 2,200 people have signed the appeal, launched June 13 by social activist Maciej Krajewski and his Łazęga poznańska association.
Built in monumental domed style in 1907 and designed by Richard Wolffenstein and Wilhelm Cremer , the synagogue was stripped of distinguishing features and turned into a swimming pool by the Nazis. The pool was closed in 2011, and since then the building has stood empty, amid sometimes heated debates about its future.
It was restituted to the tiny local Jewish community, which aired plans to turn it either into a centre of education and dialogue or a hotel. But the community lacked funds and sold the building to a private investor before the pandemic.
Reports early last year suggested that it might be turned into a Hilton hotel, but these did not materialize and the building stands empty, in deteriorating condition. A fire broke out in it earlier this year, and the synagogue is favorite with Urbex explorers.
“A valuable architectural object changes owners in circumstances unknown to the public, and – worst of all – its technical condition is constantly and rapidly deteriorating,” the petition states.
The synagogue building still impresses with its shape and shocking history. Although it is one of the few, very valuable material evidence of the existence of the Jewish district in the city and a symbol of multicultural Poznań, it remains neglected, and at the same time – it has not even been properly secured. The historic and historic building is decaying. Its deteriorating technical condition means that the building is falling into ruin. All this takes place in a civilized European country, in the heart of the Old Town, right next to the tram track and the street with hiking and tourist trails.
It continues:
As signatories of this appeal, we call on the municipal and provincial authorities to cooperate in this matter and to place the former SYNAGOGUE under legal and conservation protection and construction supervision. We hope to oblige the current owner-investor to reliably secure the building to prevent acts of vandalism, including re-arson, in order to prevent a building disaster. If this collective effort is not made, it will lead to the disappearance of the historic building from the panorama of multicultural Poznań.
It adds:
We believe that the issue of the future of the building of the Poznań SYNAGOGUE should become the subject of an open, public debate organized by the Poznań City Hall. In our opinion, the historical building of the SYNAGOGUE as a material testimony and a place of memory should not only be physically saved, but should be given a chance to become a space filled with educational, social and cultural events worthy of a contemporary European city.
The architecture web site A&B said indifference — on the part of local residents as well as direct stakeholders — was responsible for the poor state of the deteriorating building.
The indifference of the inhabitants of Poznań (visible in public comments and discussions on the Internet) is astonishing, often people who are opinion leaders or who hold positions responsible for culture and heritage as well as the city space. There is a very common view that since the Jewish community did not take proper care of the building and sold it, and they are not even particularly interested in preserving the building, basically only the private investor has a problem.