Obj. ID: 58308
Memorials Monument at the Site of Semper Synagogue in Dresden, Germany, 1975
Name of Monument
No official name
What/Who is commemorated?
Semper (Dresden, Old) synagogue, designed by Gottfried Semper destroyed in Kristallnacht
Description
The monument sits on a small hill overlooking the Hasenberg, across the street from the location of the destroyed synagogue, which is now occupied by the “New” Jewish Community Center and Synagogue erected in 2001.
The memorial stele is carved from two blocks of limestone in the form of a tall, sleek menorah. The monument tapers as it rises, with a wide flare outward at the top, curved like menorah branches. The form of a six-branch menorah is emphasized by deep gauges in the stone that form the spaces between each branch. Overall, the surface of the stone remains smooth.
A short memorial inscription in German is above the relief, and a longer dedicatory inscription is set further down, on the front of the monument “stem”. The words of the inscriptions are spelled out with raised letters – the spaces behind them are carved out of the stone so that the letters remain flush with the overall monument surface.
Inscriptions
On the line above the menorah, in German:
ZUR EWIGEN MAHNUNG
AN DIE OPFER DES FASCHISMUS
Translation: As an eternal reminder to the victims of fascism
On the lower part of the monument, in German:
HIER STAND DIE
1838-1840 VON
GOTTFRIED SEMPER ERBAUTE
DURCH OBERRABBINER
DR. ZACHARIAS FRANKEL
GEWENHTE UND
AM 9 NOVEMBER 1938
VON DEN FASCHISTEN
ZERSTORTE SYNAGOGE
DER ISRAELITISCHEN
RELIGIONSGEMEINDE
ZU DRESDEN
Translation: Here stood the synagogue of the Israelite religious community of Dresden, built in 1838-1840 by Gottfried Semper, consecrated by Chief Rabbi Dr. Zacharias Frankel, and destroyed by the fascists on November 9, 1938. // Jewish Religious Community of Dresden.
Commissioned by
Jewish Religious Community of Dresden.
sub-set tree: 
80 cm. wide at base
The Dresden synagogue, designed by famed architect Gottfied Semper, was destroyed on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938. A few days after the burning, the ruins were carried away "professionally." The Jewish community was forced to pay the cost of rubble removal.
The site remained empty and unrecognized until 1975, when as part of the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the liberation from fascism, the monument was dedicated on April 22 by Dresden’s mayor Gerhard Schill. It was one of the first public memorial to explicitly commemorate the destruction of a synagogue destroyed in 1938. The city paid for the monument.
Following the erection of the monument, it became – and continue to be - a location for commemorative ceremonies, especially the commemoration of Kristallnacht (November 9th pogrom) by the Jewish community, the city, and political and social representatives.
Schlechte, Jörg, "Innere Altstadt (Opfer des Faschimus), Stadt Dresden, Sachsen,"
Onlineprojekt Gefallenendenkmäler, http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/2011/2270_Dresden_Synagoge.html.
“Steinernes Gedenken (1): Eine Gedenkstele in Dresden,” Bruchstücke: Die Novemberpogrome in Sachsen 1938 – ein Forschungsprojekt (May 4, 2018)., http://bruchstuecke1938.de/steinernes-gedenken-1-eine-gedenkstele-in-dresden/ (accessed November 25, 2025)