Wiesbaden, German

Arson 1938

This synagogue was built by the architect Philipp Hoffman for the progressive Reform Jewish congregation of Wiesbaden, opening in 1869. It was burned down in 1939 as part of the Nazi Kristallnacht attack on Jewish communities throughout Germany. A memorial was erected on the site in 2011 that shows the outline of the structure and contains information on the 1,507 Wiesbaden Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The painting is based on a black-and-white photograph from 1900 from the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection.

When I had a fellowship in Wiesbaden, I walked by the site of the destroyed synagogue every day, as it was just around the corner from my art studio.  Julia K