- Caption
- Workers dismantle the roof of the Great Synagogue in Nuremberg, by order of Nazi municipal leaders.
This photograph was obtained by Gary Heymann, who served with the United States Army during World War II.
The handwritten caption on the back of the photograph reads, "Judenaktion, Nurnberg 1938. Dismemberment of the synagogue--every balken, every beam."
- Date
-
August 1938
- Locale
- Nuremberg, [Bavaria] Germany
- Variant Locale
- Nurnberg
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Judy Heymann Kazan and Steven Kazan
- Event History
- The Great Synagogue of Nuremberg was built in 1874, and was located on the Hans-Sachs-Platz, looking out on the Pegnitz River. Built in the Moorish style with a large dome, it was a prominent and picturesque part of the cityscape.
After the rise of the Nazi party and the selection of Nuremberg as the city of the Party Congress, the synagogue became a target of the Nazis. The burgomaster of Nuremberg, Willy Liebel, in April 1938 noted his displeasure with its "foreign, oriental motifs," and his desire to tear it down in accordance with the Law on the Reorganization of German Cities of 1937. On June 18, 1938, Nazi leaders demanded that Jewish leaders agree to voluntarily demolish the synagogue. They refused, and the synagogue was expropriated by the city on August 3rd. On August 10, 1938, demolition began, following speeches by Liebel and Julius Streicher. Demolition was completed by the beginning of the Nazi Party Conference on September 5th. A non-Jewish architect was able to save the synagogue’s Jewish Stone, a remnant from a medieval synagogue that had served as the base for the Holy Ark.
