January 27 this year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops in the waning months of World War II. The date is observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in many countries, and many commemorative events and initiatives across Europe mark the occasion.
One we would like to highlight will be the official inauguration of a commemorative garden and memorial on the site of the monumental synagogue on Quai Kléber in Strasbourg, France, which was destroyed in WW2.
Plans for the garden had been announced at a January 27 commemorative event one year ago.
Strasbourg’s mayor, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and a representative of the Prime Minister will take part in the 10 a.m. ceremony.
The grand synagogue, dedicated in 1898, at a time when Strasbourg was part of Germany, was designed by the architect Ludwig Levy from Karlsruhe and built in neo-Romanesque style, with a tall, peak-roofed tower and large rose window. It was torched by Hitler Youth in 1040 and subsequently demolished.
The memorial garden (whose cost was estimated by the city at €500,000) includes a bronze, 1/85 scale model of the synagogue, unveiled in 2020, as well as a wall bearing the names of 2,500 or more victims of the Shoah from the Bas-Rhin region. The model has to date been standing at the entrance of the city’s main synagogue, the Synagogue de la Paix.
“This memorial garden will be a place open to everyone, encouraging questioning, introspection of the past [and the] disorders of the present to prepare and reflect on a future of peace and harmony,” the Bas-Rhin Jewish Consistoire said on its web site.
If you are in Strasbourg and want to attend the ceremony at 10 a.m. on January 27, registration is required. Click here to reserve a ticket.
Read the city’s description of the memorial, from January 2024