Lost Synagogues of Europe: Paintings and History

Pre-WWII Jewish culture is brought to life in this rich illustrated tour of synagogues destroyed during the war. Piecing together sparse archival material—design plans, census data, photos, and descriptions—artist Strongwater (Where We Once Gathered) depicts shuls built from the 1600s to the 1930s, alongside concise, well-researched histories of the communities that housed each one. These include Nesvizh, Belarus, where Jews first settled in the 1500s and built in the 1700s a three-story tall brick synagogue described by residents as “scary and beautiful” (its ceiling featured a “giant sea creature, a Leviathan”) that was destroyed in the 1940s along with nearly all the town’s Jews. The synagogue in Bad Buchau, a German spa town, was built in the 1830s in the style of a church and featured a bell tower, curved windows, chandeliers, and a red and gold ark; it was burned down soon after Kristallnacht. While focusing mainly on synagogues in large Jewish communities like Warsaw (whose synagogue boasted an 80-person male choir), Strongwater also highlights smaller, off the beaten path locales, like Vukovar, a port city in Croatia, and Bielefeld, a small city in Westphalia where Jews had lived since at least the 14th century. The result is a worthy tribute to an important piece of Jewish history. (Nov.)