Great Synagogue Of Warsaw (1878 1943)
Great Synagogue in Warsaw, now defunct, was the largest synagogue in Warsaw.
Located 7 place Tomackie, it was considered the symbol of the community Progressive Jewish Warsaw and one of the most magnificent monuments of Polish nineteenth century.
Solemnly inaugurated on 28 September 1878 on the day of Jewish New Year , it was dynamited on 16 May 1943 by the SS-Gruppenfhrer Jrgen Stroop as a final act of destruction of the Warsaw ghetto. It was not rebuilt after the Second World War.
Summary |
In the eighteenth century , began in Europe , the Jewish Enlightenment Movement, called Haskalah and whose center is located in Berlin. The members of this movement around Moses Mendelssohn , spread among others, modern education secular , accepting occupations unrelated trade or craft, women's emancipation and modernization of Jewish culture.
The meeting of the Haskalah wish to open in Warsaw, their own house of prayer, regardless of the many Orthodox synagogues already in the city. A modest first synagogue was high in 1802 Daniowiczowski Street behind the new City Hall Jablonowski Palace, which became too small, is replaced by more in 1843 , located in one place. Less than a dozen years later, the synagogue is again too narrow.
Among the enlightened Jews, supporters of the Haskalah, there are many wealthy people, bankers, printers, publishers, lawyers, doctors, etc.. That can help fund a new synagogue. The search for a new location starts Before the construction The proposal to build a new synagogue made the most important is 5 September 1859 , from the mouth of Ludwik Natanson, a member of the Building Committee of the synagogue street Daniowiczowski . His proposal was immediately accepted and began the organization collection of funds, as well as finding land for the construction of the synagogue. On 20 September 1860 , the committee submits an authorization request to the authorities to plan the construction of the synagogue, but received no response. In February 1861 , a new request is made which is accepted under the condition that the synagogue was erected near Jewish homes. Several sites for the construction of the synagogue are proposed. The first application to build the new building Daniowiczowski Street, where already the former synagogue, was refused by the municipal authorities. Applications for a place at the intersection of streets and Elektoral Orlej street and a square in Krlewski n'aboutisent not a financial point of view. Finally, the authorities give their consent for the synagogue to be built up Tomackie the location of two apartment houses of the seventeenth century, in disrepair, which will be razed, and part of a garden of a palace. The land was then purchased. On 22 May 1872 announcing the holding of an architectural competition which starts on July 11 of that year. Committee members then prepare construction specifications very demanding, and set the total construction cost of 15,000 rubles maximum. The deadline for submitting applications is March 1, 1873. Six files are received and passed first before the commission incentive for return of premium: The case presented by the architects and Bronisaw Zochowski Teofil Lemke won the first premium for an amount of 750 rubles, while the second bonus an amount of 300 rubles was won by Jan Heurich Kacper. But yet none of these projects is finally accepted by the members of the Building Committee, because they do not respond to all requests. Among the projects proposed in competition, that of Jan Heurich Kacper and that of Jerzy Vckla showed buildings in Moorish style. They were never made public and were not preserved . The draft Heurich, scored first was characterized as "Jewish": " 
A new architectural competition is announced in June 1873, won this time by Stanislaw Adamczewski, but his project once again, is not accepted by the building committee of the synagogue . Finally, the project commissioned the architect Leandro (Leonard) Marconi accepted 3 January 1874 by the governor of the kingdom , General Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg .
Construction
On 14 May 1876 , takes place the solemn ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the synagogue. A capsule containing a text recounting the history of the synagogue in Hebrew and Polish is sealed in a stone foundation. The construction will last two years. Towards the end the money runs out to complete the finishing touches, and community members encourage Jews easier to vouch for a loan obligations mortgage. They also decide to call on neighboring communities. The funds raised are sufficient to complete the building. The total cost of construction is finally about 200,000 rubles.
After his inauguration
The inauguration of the synagogue held with great fanfare on September 26 1878 the day of Rosh Hashanah. The Governor General Russian Warsaw, General Pavel Kotzebue is hosted by Rabbi Izaak Cylkow with a speech in Polish , not Russian or Hebrew or Yiddish , following an exceptional arrangement , , . Henryk Natanson then lit the Ner Tamid (eternal light) before the Holy Ark .
The synagogue has just 2200 seats, 1150 in the main hall for men and 1050 in the gallery for women. In addition, it is in the building a library well stocked and very rich in ancient books and manuscripts, including "columns written by rabbis in Buczacz ( Ukraine ) and Rohatyn (Ukraine) etc ... "
On either side of the Ark, a door leading to the office of one rabbi and one in a restroom. The synagogue regularly uses the best choirs in the world who sing, accompanied on the organ and various musical instruments . Mieczyslaw Orowicz wrote in 1922 : "On Friday, during the evening service, excellent choirs accompanied by organ. (Admission is also possible for Christian men on the ground floor, keeping their hats on their heads, and women in the galleries) " .
Regular religious services are held in the synagogue, but also special services to mark the restoration of Polish independence in 1918 , restoration of the constitution of 3 May , the beginning of the school year or during funeral of Jzef Pisudski in 1935. A small plaza is in 1909 in front of the synagogue, planted shrubs and trees and surrounded by an iron gate hammered. In the 1920s , the synagogue conducts its first renovation. At the end of the work, a plaque was unveiled stating: "This house has been restored to the glory of God, 50 years after its construction and 10 years after the resurrection of the Polish Republic" Degradation and destruction The Second World War will be fatal to the Great Synagogue of Warsaw. In 1940 , after the creation of the Warsaw ghetto , the Nazis devastated the synagogue is located within the ghetto. By mid-year 1941 , the building is once again sacked, many holes are drilled in the roof, the interior is either washed away or broken, capitals and architraves are destroyed and the Ark was thrown ashore. On 27 April 1941 , Adam Czerniakw solemnly appeal to the committee for fundraising to carry out repair and restart of the Great Synagogue . On May 20 , 1941, the German authorities permitted the opening of three synagogues for the faithful. A large sum of money is collected to make the first repairs very quickly. On 31 May 1941 , the Saturday before the feast of Shavuot , is held the first religious service and the June 1 around 9:30 unfolds the formal reopening of the synagogue. Adam Czerniakw itself brings the Torah . At the end of the day, the cantor of the synagogue has a crippling attack and was rushed to hospital . Late July is then organized a special contest for the recruitment of a cantor. On October 19 , takes place at the synagogue a concert of oratorios during the month of the child. Many choral songs composed by Lewandowski, Naumburg, Bernstein and Zilberc on texts of the Old Testament , are sung. The synagogue choirs are directed by the conductor , Marian Neuteich, accompanied on violin virtuoso Henryk by Reinberg and the organ by Fajwiszys Israel. Parties solos are performed by the bass-baritone Goldner . On 30 March 1942 , the synagogue is closed at the direction of Heinz Auerswald and keys kept by the police . The synagogue serves as a temporary gathering place for Jews arriving from occupied Europe, and especially for those from the Czech Republic. In 1942, after reducing the area of the ghetto, the synagogue is then outside the new boundaries of the ghetto. Because of its size, it is used by the Nazis as a warehouse for furniture and other property stolen from Jews . The warehouse was then directed by police officer Karol Nabe Ghetto, in charge of real estate . The destruction of the Great Synagogue in Warsaw took place on 16 May 1943 , during the bloody suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It was destroyed exactly at 20:15 by the chief of the SS and police district of Warsaw, Jrgen Stroop himself as a symbol of the total liquidation of the Jewish district. It tells of its destruction: The dynamiting of the Great Synagogue was a beautiful bouquet for the official end of the "Great Action". The preparation lasted 10 days. The synagogue building was solidly built and therefore for the shoot, it took a long work of engineers and electricians. But what a wonderful show! At the end of the war, the ruins of the synagogue emerged. The place will remain empty for many years. In the mid- 1950s , the council must take the decision to build instead a tall building. However, construction will be postponed for about twenty years, what the press award at Cherem (anathema) asked by the rabbis . After many modifications of the original draft, the metal frame building was erected in 1976 , surrounded by metal plates covered with gold. But the building will not be completed, and the structure begins to rust. In 1980 , local press reported a restart of work, but they do not resume after signing an agreement with the company Yugoslav Generalexport-Giposs. The metal plates are exchanged against gold silver plates, reflecting the color of the sky. Around the high building, was built a complex of buildings of low height that takes the shape of an ancient synagogue . Construction was completed in 1991 , explains what the press by lifting the anathema by the rabbis met . In 2004 , the Jewish community of Warsaw, under the repair program, receives three-storey building (18th, 19th and 20th floors) that will serve as offices and temporary exhibition halls to the Jewish Historical Institute. The high-rise building known as the Blue Tower, is not located exactly at the place of the synagogue. It is slightly shifted north to Gruba Kaska 
The officer gave me a fire appliance generates the detonation of the charges. I shouted Heil Hitler and I pressed the button. A terrible explosion pushed the flames to the clouds. The colors were unbelievable. An unforgettable allegory of triumph over Jewry. The Warsaw ghetto has ceased to exist. For want that Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler . Postwar
It is planned to build an exact copy of the synagogue in the coming years in the center of the city of Poltava in Ukraine. Besides the places of prayer, we would find a Jewish school .
Architecture
The building of the Great Synagogue was built on the plan of a Latin cross , in classical style , with many elements like Renaissance or empire. One enters a large classical portico with four columns, above which is written in Hebrew in gold letters: "That the name of the person who is in this building, the name of the Almighty gives us peace , understanding, brotherhood and love. " On either side of the entrance is a five-branch candelabra.
Men entering the large prayer room on the ground floor of the vestibule, while the women get into the galleries located on either side. Opposite the entrance, two columns of Corinthian columns that refer to the entrance to the Temple of Jerusalem , as described in the Bible .
Above the nave central, a large dome with a golden crown, supposed to symbolize the largest and the main synagogue in Warsaw and its predominant role. The total length of the building is 64 meters. At the top, a gilt copper ball, donated by Henryk Reychman, contains the history of construction and the plan of the synagogue.
The prayer hall has a rectangular dimension of 33 meters by 29 meters. The width of the aisles is 8.5 meters and the central nave of 10.5 meters. The vestibule at the entrance before the prayer hall is square in shape, 17.5 meters wide. It provides access to each side of lockers. The hall is covered outside of a small flattened dome.
The three naves lead to a vestibule in neo novel. Above the aisles and behind the Ark, are the galleries of women with the choir. The synagogue had a very rich equipment. The Ark , paid by the family Natanson, was executed in wood specially imported from Lebanon , especially the cedar. It is coated with a paro'het (curtain) red and white, richly embroidered and striped gold and silver. The bimah (altar) with beautifully carved wooden Gunderlach, is a gift from Mathias Bersohn. This is just before the Ark, and the Rug on the ground that connects them has been offered by Antoni Ejzenbaum. Above the recess where the Ark is located, there is a small shopping arcade where the choir stands.
If the plan of the synagogue has raised various reserves, the interior has raised but admiration:
"Although the only ornaments are the bronze chandeliers and balustrades galleries around the room, the building gives an impression of simplicity. Penetrating deeper into the red and white curtain, striped gold and silver, the ark of cedar, the Tables of the Law of marble with inscriptions, the altar, candlesticks and the eternal lamp give an impression of deep religiosity - Here, really, you feel that you are in a temple .
"
Important characters related to the synagogue
- Mojzesz Schorr - Chief Rabbi of the synagogue in 1923 to 1939
- Samuel Poznanski - Chief Rabbi of the synagogue
- Izaak Cylkow - rabbi of the synagogue, preacher and translator
- Abraham CWI Dawidowicz - rabbi of the synagogue, preacher and translator
- Dawid Ajzensztadt - conductor of the Choral Synagogue
- Pinchas Szerman - cantor of the synagogue.
- Gerszon Sirota - cantor of the synagogue.
- Franciszek Salezy Lewental - Member of the Building Committee and one of the founders and benefactors of the synagogue
- Jakub Natanson - one of the main benefactors of the synagogue
- Dawid Folman - chief librarian of the synagogue
- Jzef Hirszowicz - board member of the synagogue
Notes
- a , b , c , d and e (pl): Bibliography
- (Pl) This article is partially or entirely from the article in Polish entitled " Wielka Synagoga w Warszawie "(see the list of authors )
- (Pl): Ewa Malkowski, Warszawa 1991 , ISBN 83-01-10606-9
- (Pl): Czerniakw Adam , 6 IX 1939 to 1923 VII 1942 (The diary of the Warsaw Ghetto Adam Czerniakow: November 6, 1939 to July 23, 1942), Warsaw 1983 , ISBN 83-01-03042-9
- (Pl): Karol Morawski, (Maps of the history of Jews in Warsaw), Warsaw 1993 , ISBN 83-05-12635-8
- (Pl): Izabella Rejduch Samkowa-Jan Samek, (ancient Jewish Art in Poland), Warsaw 2002 , ISBN 83-01-13892-0
External Links
- (Pl): Photos of the synagogue on www.warszawa1939.pl
- (Pl): Guide to Warsaw (until 1944)
- (Pl) Warsaw not rebuilt after war
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