Mała Synagoga, Wrocław

Mała Synagoga is the synagogue at Paweł Włodkowica 9, immediately beside the White Stork Synagogue. It is one of just two synagogues still active in Wrocław. Founded in 1945, this modest prayer room holds fifty people.

Its pre-war history is undocumented. Yet the richly ornamented ceiling, exceptional within the Jewish Religious Community’s building complex, leaves open the possibility that a synagogue occupied this room before the war. After 1968, Mała Synagoga became Wrocław’s only active synagogue, although the severe decline of Jewish communal life meant that services took place only occasionally.

A major renewal in 2015, initiated by the Bente Kahan Foundation, transformed the interior. The historic decorated ceiling was restored, while the bimah, cabinets, chandeliers, and the ceremonial cabinet were replaced. The central window on the exterior carries a stained-glass work by Mira Żelechower-Aleksiun. That small detail gives this unassuming room a clear artistic signature, alongside its continuing place in Wrocław’s Jewish religious life.