The year 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of Jewish Heritage Europe. The theme of our birthday celebrations is the “Anniversary of Anniversaries” — that is, using JHE’s own anniversary to feature other significant or symbolic anniversaries.
Here we highlight the 150th anniversary of the synagogue in Krnov, Czech Republic — known in German as Jägerndorf.
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The twin-towered synagogue in Krnov, in northeastern Czech Republic on the border with Poland, was designed by the architect Ernest Latzel and inaugurated on June 5, 1872. It is one of only three remaining synagogue buildings in CZ’s Moravian-Silesian Region (the others are in Nový Jičín and Český Těšín).
The Krnov Synagogue Association web site, quoting a June 28, 1872 article in the German language newspaper Die Neuzeit reporting on the gala inauguration ceremony, says “The total cost of the construction of the temple amounted to 26 thousand [florins], of which 500 [florins] were contributed by Emperor Franz Joseph I himself.”
The synagogue’s exterior is in a Romanesque Revival style, while the interior is imbued with Moorish elements and has a beautiful coffered ceiling. An organ from the local Rieger Brothers firm was installed in the synagogue in 1898.
The inauguration on June 5, 1872 was a festive event that demonstrated the pride and prosperity of the local Jewish community, and its standing within the community at large.
It featured the “lively participation” of local people and also drew guests from the neighboring area. Die Neuzeit reported that “no expense was spared to make the dedication as solemn as possible. There were a religious ceremony, speeches, musical performances by a band and a choir from Opava, and a procession bearing the Torah scrolls from the previous prayer hall to the grand new synagogue that included a number of VIPS, including the mayor and members of the city council, the local parish priest and other Protestant and Catholic clergy, teachers from all local schools, “and other distinguished townspeople and numerous guests from near and far.”
Die Neuzeit reported (the following is translated from the Czech version of the article)
To the right and left of the canopy under which the bearers of the Torah scrolls were sheltered walked girls dressed in white, carrying wreaths of flowers, and a military detachment of the local garrison, composed mostly of officers, provided a guard of honor for the imposing procession as it slowly passed through the onlookers to the sound of music through the crowded marketplace, whose closed shops and houses decorated with flags added to the festive character of the day. Arriving at the temple courtyard, one of the girls, after a spirited speech, handed over the keys to the temple on an ornate cushion to [the]. District Governor, who in a strong speech, carried by the spirit of Torah and freedom and accompanied by loud applause, praised the deep meaning and dedication of our religious community and noted with full satisfaction the commonality between adherents of various confessions. After the district governor finished his speech, the choir sang the 24th Psalm accompanied by music. After the opening song, local [religious teacher and] preacher Mr. Anschlowitz gave a short toast and lit the eternal light. The subsequent singing of Chief Cantor Blum with his choir and musical accompaniment was performed with great precision, and the soaring eulogy of {Brno Rabbi] Dr. Placet which followed the transfer of the scrolls of the Law excited the crowd, who left the house of God in a generally uplifted mood and certainly cleansed of many prejudices.
Following the ceremonies there was “an excellently arranged” banquet for then VIPs and other guests, of various religions — with lots of toasts, including one to Franz Joseph for having contributed “the respectable sum” of 500 florins toward construction of the synagogue.
The synagogue functioned for worship util 1938, when the Germans occupied Krnov. It escaped destruction on Kristallnacht, but during WW2 it was used as the town market hall. In its detailed history of the synagogue, the Krnov Synagogue Association web site writes:
All symbols of the Jewish faith were removed from the synagogue, the stone Ten Commandments written in Hebrew were placed on the floor, the organ was dismantled by the Rieger company and sold to a Catholic church (in today’s Poland)
After the war, the synagogue was used as a warehouse and then from 1960 housed the district archives until 1997, when it suffered damage in a devastating flood. The building was restituted to the ownership of the Olomouc Jewish community in 1994.
After the archives left, the condition of the building deteriorated further. Civic activists managed to carry out some repair work and in 1999 founded the Krnov Synagogue Association, which aimed to preserve the building as a cultural, religious, and educational venue, and which runs the synagogue and programs its activities today.
The Federation of Jewish Communities took over ownership in 2004, and further repairs took place in the next few years.
After 2009, the synagogue was included in the major EU-funded 10 Stars Revitalization of Jewish Historic Buildings project, which involved the restoration of synagogues in 10 towns all over the Czech
Republic (plus associated Jewish buildings in five of the towns).
This saw the full restoration of the Krnov synagogue and installation of an exhibition on Jewish industrialists, with the completed project inaugurated in June 2014.
The synagogue is furnished with pews that were removed from the grand synagogue in Olomouc, removed before the Germans burned the synagogue down in March 1939.
See a scan of the article in Die Neuzeit describing the synagogue’s inauguration
See a photo documentation of the synagogue on the Center for Jewish Art web site
Krnov section of the 10 Stars web site — info, pix and video about the restoration