Restoration and renovation work is progressing on the Jewish communal courtyard complex of buildings in Wrocław, southwest Poland.
Current work includes the complete restoration of the small shtibl that has been used by the contemporary Jewish community, as well as the facades of the buildings surrounding the courtyard, which date from the early 20th century.
During work on the shtibl, the original ceiling paintings dating by the local Jewish architects, the Ehrlich brothers, were revealed and are being restored.
Bente Kahan, the Norwegian singer who lives in Wrocław and is the head of the Bente Kahan Foundation, tells JHE that restoration of the shtibl has been funded by the Foundation, the City of Wrocław, the Jewish Community, and will be completed in time for rededication on November 9, 2015 — the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 when synagogues and Jewish businesses all over Germany were attacked and/or destroyed.
Before World War II Wroclaw was Breslau, Germany, home to Germany’s third-largest Jewish community. Its magnificent domed reform synagogue, dedicated in 1872, was torched on Kristallnacht, but the neoclassical White Stork Synagogue — at the heart of the Jewish courtyard complex — was spared by its proximity to other buildings.
See a video about the restoration:
Long neglected and derelict after World War II, the White Stork, built in the 1820s and designed by Karl F. Langhans, was fully restored beginning in 1996 and rededicated in 2010. It now serves as Center for Jewish Culture and Education.
Future restoration plans also call for the refurbishment of the Jewish communal complex’s mikveh.