The New Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse was the largest and most beautiful synagogue in Germany and was a symbol of self-confidence for Jews in Berlin. It puts, “everything in the shade that the Christian churches of our capital city have to offer,” claimed writer Theodor Fontane in 1865. Yet many others found its oriental grandeur too exotic, an unacceptable provocation and demanded the exclusion of Jews from public life in the city. This debate which was ignited by the facade of the New Synagogue was a symptom of a kind of antisemitism that was widespread long before the Nazis came to power.

Although the New Synagogue was also damaged in November 1938, Berlin police officer were able to prevent this Jewish place of worship from being burned down. In November 1943, the entire building was hit by aerial bombardment. By this point, nearly the entire Berlin Jewish community had been destroyed. At the time of liberation in May 1945, over 54,000 Berlin Jews had been murdered. This exhibit tells this story by allowing visitors to to walk through the partially re-constructed remains of the synagogue building, from the main entryway facing Oranienburger Strasse all the way up to the shining golden dome, whose magnificence can be seen from miles away and which serves as a unique symbol for both the splendor and the destruction of religious and cultural diversity in Berlin.