About the location
From the mid-18th century to 1911, some 95 synagogues were built in Silesia; only 20 survived the pogrom night of 1938. The Görlitz synagogue, inaugurated in 1911, was the last to be built. The architects Lossow & Kühne had already made a name for themselves with the Leipzig Central Station and the State Theater. The Art Nouveau building was also looted and set on fire, but was extinguished for reasons that are not entirely clear. After decades of vacancy, the building was ceremoniously reopened in July 2021 as the Kulturforum Görlitz Synagogue. The organ of the synagogue has been located in the Bonifatiuskirche in Zgorzelec since 1938. This year's festival concert combines early Baroque choral music with newly arranged Israeli songs, audibly spanning threads of Jewish identities over centuries.