Synagogue on Reichenbachstraße in Munich

The Synagogue on Reichenbachstraße stands in Munich’s Isarvorstadt district, behind a courtyard at Reichenbachstraße 27. Built in 1931 to designs by Gustav Meyerstein, it measures 27 metres long, 14 metres wide and 8 metres high. The building has three aisles and can seat 850 worshippers. A small stream once ran along the back of the site, allowing worshippers to perform the Tashlikh ritual beside the synagogue. Today the structure is protected as cultural heritage. Its history reflects Munich’s Jewish community through the 20th century. After the First World War, many Eastern European Jews settled in the city and formed their own congregations. In 1921 the Linath Hazedek and Agudas Achim associations bought the rear building to use as a prayer room. The new synagogue opened on 5 September 1931 with three Munich rabbis present: Samuel Wiesner, Ernst Ehrentreu and Leo Baerwald. During the November 1938 pogrom the building was devastated but saved from fire by the fire brigade. After the Second World War the synagogue became Munich’s main place of worship until the Ohel Jakob opened in 2007. On 13 February 1970 an arson attack on the retirement home in the front building killed seven Holocaust survivors and injured fifteen others. The building was restored and reopened in September 2025 after a long campaign led by Rachel Salamander and Ron C. Jakubowicz. Inside, visitors find the original 1931 layout preserved, with a central bimah and three aisles. The restored interior allows light to fall on the Ark and seating as it did before the war.