• Monument to the New Synagogue
In the Upper Silesian city of Opole (German: Oppeln) a monument remembers the New Synagogue in the Hafenstraße which was destroyed during the »Kristallnacht« in 1938.
Image: Opole, about 1900, View of the New Synagogue, public domain
Opole, about 1900, View of the New Synagogue, public domain

Image: Opole, 2006, Memorial stone in front of the former site of the Synagogue, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
Opole, 2006, Memorial stone in front of the former site of the Synagogue, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
The Silesian town of Opole (German: Oppeln) fell to Prussia in 1742 and was strongly germanised in the following period. A small Jewish community already existed since 1813, their first synagogue was built in 1840/41. The number of Jews rose to about 700 until the end of the 19th century, out of a total population of 30,000. Their community was decidedly liberal: In 1895 the 22-year-old Leo Baeck (1873-1956) became Rabbi of Opole – he was one of the most important pioneers of liberal Judaism and later the highest representative of the German Jews. In 1897 Leo Baeck dedicated the New Synagogue in the Hafenstraße at the palace pond. It was built in the Moorish style with red bricks and was regarded as one the city's landmarks. The Old Synagogue in the Hospitalstraße was no longer needed and sold.
After the First World War the national affiliation of Upper Silesia was long disputed. Therefore a plebiscite was held on March 20, 1921 and parts of the region became part of Poland. In the city of Opole almost 95% of the votes were cast for Germany, most likely by the vast majority of the Jewish population too. Nevertheless, in the following years many Jews from Opole emigrated, not least because of the difficult economic situation. This trend was intensified after the National Socialists came to power in 1933.
As in many other German cities, a pogrom was carried out in Opole by Nazis and their supporters in the night of November 9, 1938. They attacked Jews and Jewish businesses and forced Rabbi Hans Hirschberg to set fire to the New Synagogue by his own hands. The building burned down to the ground, supervised by the fire brigade. Hirschberg and another twelve Jews were imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, other Jews sought refuge in the Polish consulate during the pogrom. Between autumn 1942 and spring 1943 all Jews from the Opole region were deported, only very few of them survived the war.
Image: Opole, about 1900, View of the New Synagogue, public domain
Opole, about 1900, View of the New Synagogue, public domain

Image: Opole, 2006, Memorial stone in front of the former site of the Synagogue, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
Opole, 2006, Memorial stone in front of the former site of the Synagogue, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
The »Kristallnacht« heralded the end of the Jewish community in Opole. Many of Opole's Jews emigrated with the result that in 1939 only 280 Jews lived in the city. The destination of the 1942/43 deportations from Opole was the ghetto camp of Terezín (German: Theresienstadt). Almost all were later murdered by poison gas by the SS in the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Image: Opole, 1938, The burning Synagogue, public domain
Opole, 1938, The burning Synagogue, public domain

After the Potsdam Agreement of 1945 the city became part of Poland, its name was changed from Oppeln to Opole. Most of the German inhabitants fled or where expelled. Immediately after the war a number of Jews settled in Opole, it didn't however result in the establishment of a new Jewish community.
Since the 1960s a school building stands on the site of the former synagogue in the Hafenstraße. In 1998, 60 years after its destruction a memorial stone remembering the synagogue was erected in front of its former site. The stone bears a quotation from the Psalms and a dedication in German, Polish and English: »"They set your sanctuary on fire" – Here stood the synagogue which was burned down by the Nazis down in the Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. Humans will not forget it«. The building of the synagogue which was already sold in 1897 still exists. It is listed as a monument and used as a production facility by a local TV station.
Image: Opole, 2006, Memorial stone for the New Synagogue, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
Opole, 2006, Memorial stone for the New Synagogue, wikipedia commons, Pudelek

Image: Opole, 2006, Building of the Old Synagogue abandoned in 1897, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
Opole, 2006, Building of the Old Synagogue abandoned in 1897, wikipedia commons, Pudelek
Name
Kamień pamięci dla Nowej Synagogi
Address
ul. Księdza Norberta Barlickiego 2 / ul. Piastowska
46-020 Opole
Open
The monument is accessible at all times.