January 17, 2006
A new synagogue has been inaugurated in the German city of Pforzheim, 67 years after the destruction of the old one. At dedication ceremony on Sunday, the governor of the State of Baden-Württemberg said he was “delighted that the Jewish community has found a home here and can develop, culturally and religiously.” Charlotte Knobloch, vice-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and of the World Jewish Congress, was one of more than 450 guests who attended the inauguration. The synagogue has a membership of about 500. It was the first time in 30 years that a new synagogue was dedicated in Baden-Württemberg, which today has a Jewish population of 8,000. Before the Nazi era, there were more than 24,000 Jews and 122 Jewish communities in the region.
