Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

The Nazis destroyed a Munich synagogue in 1938. Its remains were just found

Material from Munich’s primary synagogue was used to buttress a nearby dam

This week, construction workers unearthed the rubble of a Munich synagogue destroyed by Hitler in a river that runs through Munich — and found some of the synagogue’s remains intact. 

Munich’s main synagogue, and the sacred materials it held, were deemed lost by the Jewish community after its destruction in June 1938 by the Nazis. A department store now stands at the synagogue’s original location.

“We never thought we would find anything from it,” the director of the Jewish Museum of Munich, Bernhard Purin said.

But it turns out that all along most of the synagogue’s remains have been nearby — helping to buttress a dam. In 1956, the rubble from the synagogue, along with other masonry, was used to build a weir in the River Isar.

The mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, called the discovery a “stroke of luck,” and his deputy stated that the city will work with the Jewish community to honor the remains. 

Among the most exciting findings was an almost intact stone tablet bearing the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. It’s believed that the tablet adorned the top of the synagogue’s ark. 

Seeing the rubble of the synagogue “was one of the most moving moments in 30 years of working in Jewish museums,” Purin told the BBC, “especially seeing the plaque of the Ten Commandments not seen since 1938.” 

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.