Cross-posted from Jewish Heritage Europe.
(You can read more about the synagogue and restoration on this blogpost from 2010.)
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White Stork Synagogue, 2013. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber
To mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism, the Wrocław
edition of Gazeta Wyborcz newspaper is organizing a poll as to the major
event in the region in the past quarter century. The restoration and re-opening of the historic White Stork Synagogue is one of the 15 nominees. Inaugurated in 1829 and designed by Carl Ferdinand Langhans, the synagogue was
seriously damaged on Kristallnacht but not torched because of its
proximity to other buildings. The Nazis converted it into an auto repair
garage and warehouse for stolen Jewish property.
The synagogue was officially re-opened in May 2010,
after a fitful restoration process that began in 1996, funded by the
Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation and the company KGHM Polish
Copper SA. Work stalled, but the restoration was completed after the
Bente Kahan Foundation stepped in to spearhead the project and and in
2008, in cooperation with the Union of Jewish Religious Communities and
the City of Wroclaw, managed to obtain funding for the project from
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism.
Today, it is used for civic cultural events and major Jewish
celebrations, and it also houses a permanent exhibit on Jewish history
and culture.
You can vote HERE — on Gazeta’s web site.
Thanks to Virtual Shtetl for bringing this to our attention
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