Roonstrasse Synagogue

Roonstrasse Synagogue
Basic information
Location	Cologne, Germany
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Active Synagogue
Leadership	Rabbi Yaron Engelmayer
Architectural description
Completed	1899. Destroyed during WW2, rebuilt in 1959.
Specifications

Roonstrasse Synagogue, located in Cologne, Germany, is one of the five pre-Nazi synagogues of the locality, which was destroyed on November 9, 1938 during nationwide attacks on Jewish-owned property (Kristallnacht) when Germany was under Nazi rule. The synagogue was subsequently rebuilt during the 1950s. It is currently a center of Jewish community of Cologne, and consists of a community center, a small display of items associated with Cologne Jewry, and a kosher restaurant. The interior of the reconstructed synagogue has a vast blue dome.

On August 19, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI visited Roonstrasse Synagogue. This visit was the second ever visit to any synagogue by any one of the Popes. There, he condemned Nazism and antisemitism.

Gallery

• Roonstrasse 1903.jpg

  Postcard dated 1903

• Roonstrasse 1907.jpg

  Postcard dated 1907

• Synagoge Koeln5.jpg

  April 2006

See also

• History of the Jews in Cologne

External links

• A page from the Time Magazine
• "Pope Warns of Increase in Anti-Semitism", WorldWide Religious News, David McHugh, August 19, 2005.