Monument to the Jewish synagogue and cemetery
Trutnov’s representative Jewish synagogue which currently would have been one of the city's historical jewels, was built in 1882, but destroyed by the Nazis on Krystallnacht on November 9th, 1938. The pogrom, which affected the entire German empire at the time, is resembled by a reverent memorial arranged in “Na Struze” street. The Jewish cemetery from 1870 located at the western foot of the Šibeník hill befell the same fate on Krystallnacht.
Synagogue
The synagogue existed in Trutnov for only 53 years, from 1885 to 1938. It was built in the Moorish style according to the design of the Trutnov builder Konrád Kühn. There were 176 seats for men only in the temple area, of which 160 were rented. Proceeds from the rent were used to maintain the synagogue. The remaining 16 seats were reserved for guests. The gallery, with a capacity of 120 seats, was intended for women. However, they did not directly participate in religious services.
The ceiling and walls of the synagogue were decorated with mosaic ornaments. The whole temple space was illuminated by a 24-arm chandelier with a hundred light bulbs.
Places of reverence
The area of the former Trutnov synagogue, of which only modest remains of the foundations remain, is reverently modified today. On November 11, 1998, a memorial was unveiled here. Also on the site of the former Jewish cemetery, a memorial in the shape of a cemetery gate was unveiled on October 12, 1995, consisting of two roughly worked two-meter stone columns, bridged at the top by a third stone that connects them horizontally. The memorial bears Czech, German and Hebrew inscriptions and is continuously maintained and restored. Violence against the Jewish population is also commemorated by a memorial to forty-one Jewish girls, who were tortured by the Nazis during World War II in a local labor camp, located in the Trutnov cemetery.
