New Orthodox Synagogue (Košice)

New Orthodox Synagogue
Slovak: Nová ortodoxná synagóga
The synagogue in 2021
Religion
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism
Rite	Nusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Status	Active
Location
Location	Puškinova Street, Košice
Country	Slovakia
Location of the synagogue in Slovakia
Geographic coordinates	48°43′13″N 21°15′43″E
Architecture
Architect(s)	Ľudovít Oelschläger [sk]
Type	Synagogue architecture
Style	Neo-classical Modernist (interior)
Completed	1927
Specifications
Capacity	800 worshipers
Dome(s)	One
Materials	Concrete
Website
kehilakosice.sk
[1]

The New Orthodox Synagogue (Slovak: Nová ortodoxná synagóga) is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Puškinova Street near the historic centre of Košice, Slovakia. The congregation worships in the Ashkenazi rite.[1]

History

The Jews to settle in Košice arrived after 1840, when the legal ban on Jewish residence was lifted. In 1930, the city's more than 11,500 Jews made up 16.4 percent of the city's population. Before The Holocaust, Košice was home to one of the largest and most important Jewish communities in Slovakia.[2] The Old Orthodox Synagogue in Zvonárska Street, constructed in 1899 to the design of János Balogh,[3]: 122  that, as of July 2024^[update], is still standing, and was used as a place of worship until World War II.[4]

The New Synagogue, completed in 1927, was designed by the Budapest-educated architect Ľudovít Oelschläger [sk]. The façade uses both Neo-classical and local traditional motifs; and example of the latter is the attic storey in a style often found in renaissance buildings of Eastern Slovakia. The interior, largely constructed in concrete, is in the Modernist style with a domed central hall and a women's gallery with a metal mechitzah. The central bimah faces a Torah ark made of red marble. A school was built adjoining the synagogue and a mikveh (ritual bath) was planned but not constructed.[3]: 123 

Holocaust memorial plate

Transports of Jews from Kosice to Nazi camps were carried out during World War II. A bronze Holocaust memorial plate was installed on the front of the synagogue in 1992. It informs that more than 12,000 Jews of Košice were taken to concentration camps in 1944. It does not mention that more than 2,000 Jews from Košice's surroundings were concentrated here and then also sent to the concentration camps. Only 400 of all transported Jews survived.

Gallery

• 
  The synagogue exterior
• 
  Detail of the synagogue
• 
  The Holocaust memorial plate
• 
  Detail of the synagogue

See also

• History of the Jews in Slovakia
• List of synagogues in Slovakia

References

1. "Orthodox Synagogue in Košice". Historic synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
2. "Košice – Jewish Community Compound". Synagoga Slovaca. n.d. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
3. Borský, Maroš (2007). Synagogue Architecture in Slovakia: A Memorial Landscape of a Lost Community. Bratislava: Jewish Heritage Foundation. ISBN 9788096972005.
4. "Second Orthodox Synagogue in Košice". Historic synagogues of Europe. Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n.d. Retrieved July 21, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Flam (nee Frankfurter), Ethel. "Kosice survivor testimony" (video) – via Google Docs.