2023-07-11 20:25:00
Workers found at the bottom of the river Isar the rubble of the main synagogue in Munich, Germany, demolished in 1938 by direct order of the dictator Adolf Hitler. Until the destruction of the Jewish house of worship by the Nazi regime, the Great Synagogue of Munich composed the urban framework of the capital. The information is from the Deutsche Welle news network.
According to the blog of the Jewish Museum in Munich, the synagogue was a “symbol of equal rights for Jews, won in long and hard struggles”. For that reason, the site was a thorn in the side of the Nazis.
The remains of the building were rediscovered during construction work on a dam on the river Isar near the Grosshesseloher bridge. The excavators bumped into stone fragments in the riverbed. In all, 150 tons of architectural ruins were found.
The astonishment of the discovery is due to the fact that, in 85 years, there was no evidence of the whereabouts of the synagogue’s wreckage. Cultural scientist and director of the Jewish Museum, Bernhard Purin, surmises that the reason is that Munich repressed its Nazi past more than other German cities.
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Purin also mentions the fact that, after the end of the Second World War, in 1945, the city started to “define itself by the alacrity [alegria] washed down with Oktoberfest beer”. It was only in 1969, 24 years later, that the people of Munich erected a granite memorial to the destroyed synagogue, designed by the sculptor Herbert Preis.
The State Department for Heritage Preservation has already started transporting tons of stone to another deposit. The director of the Jewish Museum estimates that the examination of the material will take one to two years. The site, which has fragments of stone and stained glass from the Great Synagogue in its collection, will help in classifying the objects.
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