Jewish Heritage Europe

Kristallnacht: Wonderful surviving — and restored — synagogues to mark the 80th anniversary

  By now it’s a JHE tradition. The night of November 9-10 marks the  80th anniversary of the so-called Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, when the Nazis launched coordinated violent attacks on Jews, Jewish property and Jewish places of worship all … continue reading →

Important New Book on Synagogue Architecture by Sergey R. Kravtsov

An important new book on synagogue architecture has just been published. Titled In the Shadow of Empires: Synagogue Architecture in East Central Europe, it is a collection of essays by JHE friend Sergey R. Kravtsov, of the Center for Jewish Art … continue reading →

Persistent “symbolic mezuzahs”; and why photograph ruined traces of Jewish life?

  JHE friend, the Cologne-based photographer Christian Herrmann, spends his free time traveling to eastern Europe to photograph the surviving traces of pre-Holocaust Jewish life that still stand across the region. We have highlighted his work a number of times, … continue reading →

Simchat Torah! Rejoicing with Images of Arks

  Simchat Torah — Rejoicing in the Torah, the Jewish festival that celebrates the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings (and beginning of the new cycle), falls on Monday-Tuesday. To mark the occasion, here are some images of the Aron ha Kodesh, or … continue reading →

Rosh Hashana Synagogues: new video as Plzen Great Synagogue marks 125 years

  Continuing our series on synagogues that were dedicated at Rosh Hashana … we’ve posted recently about the monumental Great Synagogue in Plzen (Pilsen), Czech Republic, which is about to undergo extensive renovation. But we can’t resist posting the new … continue reading →