Obj. ID: 58297 Memorial on the Site of Great (New) Synagogue in Wrocław (Breslau), Poland, 1998
Name of Monument
No official name
What/Who is commemorated?
Destroyed New (Liberal) Synagogue
Description
The monument is located on part of the site of the former New Synagogue. It sits on a small, raised plaza, delimited by a low brick and stone wall surmounted by an iron railing. The plaza is reached by five steps from ul. Łąkowa. The rear of the plaza is marked by two walls (of different materials) coming together at an angle, and the upright granite monument is set on axis from the steps, across the angle of joining walls. There are mature trees in the plaza, with one on axis from the steps to the monument. Trees have grown up in the adjoining property – which was part of the synagogue site, and these now shade the memorial plaza. The pavement is made of granite cobblestones. The monuments sites on a low hexagonal base of the same cobblestones. This space serves as a stage for the placement of memorial candles and commemorative wreaths.
The monument consists of six joined gray granite blocks creating one large wide matzevah-type stele; three blocks wide and two high. The upper block at the center rises higher with a rounded top, higher than the flat-topped blocks on the sides. Inscribed on this central round stone is an image of the destroyed synagogue. Historical and dedicatory inscriptions in German, Polish and Hebrew fill the fronts of the lower blocks.
Inscriptions
On the upper three parts of the memorial:
1872 [engraved image of destroyed synagogue] 1938
On the lower left part of the memorial, in German:
SIE LEGTEN AN DEIN HEILIGTUM FEUER,
ENTWEIHTEN
DIE WOHNUNG DEINES NAMES
BIS AUF DEN GRUND
PS.74.7
AN DIESER STELLE
STAND BIS ZUM 9. NOVEMBER 1938
DIE GROSSTE SYNAGOGE
DER JUDISCHEN GEMEINDE DER STADT BRESLAU
IN DIESER NACHT WURDE SIE
VOM NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN REGIME
NIEDERGEBRANNT.
MIT DIESEM AKT DER ZERSTÖPUNG
BEGANN DER MORD
DER JÜDISCHEN KINDER, FRAUEN
UND MÄNNER, BRESLAUN BRESLAUS
EHRET IHR ANGEDENKEN
Translation: They set fire to your sanctuary, desecrated the dwelling place of your name to the ground. Psalm 74:7 / On this site until November 9, 1938, stood the great synagogue of the Jewish community of the city of Breslau. On that night, it was burned down by the National Socialist regime. With this act of destruction began the murder of the Jewish children, women, and men of Breslau. Honor their memory.
On the lower middle part of the memorial, in Polish:
WYDALI NA PASTWE OGNIA
SWIATYNIĘ TWOJA,
AZ DO GRUNTU ZBEZCZESCILI
SIEDZIBE TWEGO IMIENIA
PS 74,7
W TYM MIEJSCU
STAŁA DO 9 LISTOPADA 1938 R.
NAJWIĘKSZA SYNAGOGA
GMINY ŻYDOWSKIEJ WE WROCŁAWIU
TEJ NOCY ZOSTAŁA ONA SPALONA
PRZEZ ZBRODNICZY
REŽIM HITLEROWSKI.
Z TYM AKTEM ZNISZCZENIA
ROZPOCZĄŁ SIĘ MORD
ZYDOW WROCŁAWSKICH:
DZIECI, KOBIET I MĘŻCZYZN.
BŁOGOSŁAWIONA ICH PAMIĘC!
Translation: They have set your sanctuary on fire; they have desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. Psalm 74:7 / On this site until November 9, 1938, stood the largest synagogue of the Jewish community in Wrocław. That night it was burned down by the criminal Hitler regime. With this act of destruction began the murder of the Jews of Wroclaw: children, women, and men. May their memory be blessed!
On the lower right part of the memorial, in Hebrew:
שלחו באש מקדשך
לארץ חללו משכן שמך
תייה עדז
במקום הזה
עד ליום 9 בנובמבר 1938
היה קיים בית הכנסת הגדול ביותר
בקחלת ברוסלאן
בלילה ההוא נשרף בית הכנסת
על ידי קלגסי הנאצים
עם זאת התחילה ההשמדה
והרצה של אנשים, נשים וטף
של תושבי היהודים
של ברוסלאן
יהי זכרם של הקדושים ברוך לעולם
Translation: On November 9, 1938, the largest synagogue in the City of Breslau was burned by the Nazis and with it began the extermination and extermination of men, women and children of the Jewish inhabitants of Breslau. May the memory of the martyrs be blessed forever.
Commissioned by
City of Wrocław
Jewish Community Wrocław
The monument sits at the site of the former New Synagogue, the second-largest synagogue in Germany, that was destroyed on Kristallnacht in 1938. The cornerstone for the monument was laid on the 58th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Nov. 8, 1996. The cornerstone included a metal cylinder which contained the City Council Resolution on the construction of the monument, a metal coat of arms of Wrocław, and copies of Wrocław newspapers. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the city authorities and Jerzy Kichler, vice-chairman of the Jewish religious community in Wrocław. The unveiling of the completed monument took place on November 9, 1998. The monument bears an image of the synagogue, the dates of its existence (1872-1938), and inscriptions in German, Polish and Hebrew.
The site of the destroyed Great (New) Synagogue (Am Anger) first became a part of memorial ceremonies in 1994, when the March of Remembrance for the Victims of the November Pogrom of 1938 was held for the first time on November 9. The White Stork Synagogue and the site of the Great (New) Synagogue became the starting and the ending points of the memorial march. Since then, the march has become an annual event. [Luft, 2023; Taczyńska, 2025, p. 23]
The memorial was funded by the Jewish community and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [Taczyńska, 2025, p. 18]
Dreyer, Nicolas, "Urban Memory of the Holocaust from Communism to Civic Activism: The Case of Wrocław," in Holocaust Monuments and Memorials in Central Europe, ed. Eva Janáčová (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2026), 111-40.
Luft, Maria, "Memorials in Wrocław. Remembering the Breslau Jewish Community in the Years Prior to 1945," (2023), Copernico, https://www.copernico.eu/en/articles/memorials-wroclaw-remembering-breslau-jewish-community-years-prior-1945 (accessed December 30, 2025)
Taczyńska, Katarzyna, "Local vs. National: Commemorative Practices of Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lower and Upper Silesia," Colloquia Humanistica 14 (2025): 1-36, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398428980_Local_vs_National_Commemorative_Practices_of_Jewish_Cultural_Heritage_in_Lower_and_Upper_Silesia (accessed December 30, 2025)
“Poland: archaeologists probe foundations of destroyed New Synagogue in Wrocław,” Jewish Heritage Europe: July 11, 2017., https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2017/07/11/poland-archaeologists-probe-foundations/ (accessed March 8, 2026)
“Pomnik Pamięci Ofiar Nocy Kryształowej,”
Wikipedia, https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomnik_Pamięci_Ofiar_Nocy_Kryształowej.
“Pomnik Synagogi.” fotopolska.eu., https://fotopolska.eu/Wroclaw/b9306,Pomnik_Synagogi.html (accessed March 8, 2026)