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Olomouc Synagogue
Olomouc Synagogue
Czech: Synagoga v Olomouci
	A postcard of the former synagogue in c. 1900
Religion
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism (former)
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue (1897–1939);
Status	Destroyed
Location
Location	Olomouc
Country	Czech Republic
	Location of the former synagogue in the Czech Republic
Geographic coordinates	49°35′26″N 17°15′02″E / 49.59056°N 17.25056°E
Architecture
Architect(s)	Jakob Gärtner
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Moorish Revival
Founder	Rabbi Dr. Berthold Oppenheim
Date established	c. 1850s (as a congregation)
Completed	1897
Destroyed	March 1939

The Olomouc Synagogue (Czech: Synagoga v Olomouci) was a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in Olomouc, in the Czech Republic. The synagogue was built in 1897^[1] and was destroyed during a Nazi attack in March 1939.^[2]

History

In the late 1850s, Olomouc's "Izraelitische Cultusverein", the religious society, was founded. From 1859, the congregation rented halls for regular worship due to the efforts of Hermann Zweig and the well-known Jewish scholar and physician, Adolf Brecher. These services were officially approved by the authorities in 1860; and in 1863, an entire floor, which was subsequently acquired by the community, was dedicated by the Rev. Dr Schmiedl, at that time of Prossnitz, and subsequently of Vienna. In 1892, the "Cultusverein" was changed into a "Cultusgemeinde", and its constitution was confirmed two years later in conformity with the law of 20 March 1890. It was then that the notion of building a synagogue arose.

In 1894, the community purchased a site adjacent to the Teresian Gate. The new synagogue, designed by Jakob Gärtner (1861–1921), was completed in and duly consecrated by Rabbi DR. Berthold Oppenheim, the first rabbi of the community, on 11 April 1897. A two-storey building with flats and offices for administrative use was built adjacent to the synagogue. In 1904, the town of 21,933 had a Jewish population of 1,676.^[1]

The edifice was one of the biggest and finest synagogues in Czechoslovakia, but was so for only half of a century. On the night of 15–16 March 1939, the synagogue was attacked and burned to ashes.^[3] The Nazi instigators refused to let the town's firemen to extinguish the flames. Looters salvaged what remained of the synagogue's ornaments and furnishings until 1941 when the whole area was transformed into a grassy park.

Torah scrolls

Two Torah scrolls were salvaged and moved to a repository in Prague. They were among the more than 1,500 sent to the Jewish Museum in Prague in 1942 for safekeeping. In the early 1960s, British lawyer and philanthropist Ralph Yablon purchased the scrolls from the Czechoslovakian government and donated them to London's Westminster Synagogue, which established the Memorial Scrolls Trust that loaned them to synagogues around the world, with most going to U.S. synagogues.^[4] In 1970 one of the scrolls was loaned to Peninsula Sinai Congregation in Foster City, California, where it was used for religious services.

The Olomouc Jewish community was reborn after being decimated by the Nazis, and in 2016 they contacted the Peninsula Sinai Congregation to request the return of its scroll. Damage to its Hebrew lettering has made it unfit, or "unkosher," for use in religious ceremonies in recent years. The Peninsula Sinai Congregation community, led by Rabbi Corey Helfand, had the scroll restored by sofer (scribe) Rabbi Moshe Druin. In October 2017, Rabbi Helfand, Cantor Doron Shapira, Linda Oberstein, Steve Lipman, Ron and Liz Mester, and Andrea Hawksley and Andy Lutomirski, accompanied Torah back to its home in Olomouc,^[5]^[6] where they were also joined by Rabbi Druin. At a ceremony on 22 October 2017, the last letters were restored, and the scroll was festively installed in the Jewish prayer room on the occasion of the Jewish Culture Days in Olomouc. It was the first Torah returned out of the 1,500 Bohemian and Moravian scrolls that are stored outside the Czech Republic.^[7]

Gallery

Interior in 1905
Postcard c. 1899
Postcard early 1900s
An 1899 map showing the "Isr.[aelit] Temple" on the corner of Temple-Gasse & Nieder-Gasse

References

^ ^a ^b
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Deutsch, Gotthard; Kisch, Alexander (1901–1906). "Olmütz". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography:
- Zweig, Denkschrift Anlässlich der Schlusssteinlegung der Synagoge in Olmütz, Olmütz, 1897;
- Union-Kalender, iii. Vienna, 1894.
^ "PhDr. Berthold Oppenheim" (in Czech). December 4, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
^ "Olomouc Synagogue". Municipality of Olomouc. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
^ "Jewish Community Olomouc". The History of the Jewish Community of Olomouc.
^ Gloster, Rob (September 14, 2017). "Czech Torah going home after 47 years on Peninsula". Jewish New of Northern California. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
^ "200-year old Torah leaves Bay Area, returns home to Czech Republic". ABC News. October 17, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
^ "California synagogue returning Torah scroll to Olomouc | Prague Monitor". Archived from the original on October 28, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2017.