Tempel or "bóżnica"? The contemporary synagogues countenances of silesian voivodeship

The turbulent political history of the lands included in the modern Silesian voivodeship and the development of numerous, especially in the nineteenth century, Jewish communities in these areas, prompted the author to take up the subject of functioning of the synagogue buildings within this administrative unit. Analysis oriented towards the occurring socio-political changes was conducted in the historical dimension as well as concerned the current state. The aim of the article is to examine whether the changing nineteenth and twentieth century boundaries, and thus the functioning of Jewish communities in different geopolitical units, under different restrictions and privileges, affected the distribution and physiognomy of synagogues – the main buildings of the spiritual life, as well as social life for those groups. The article does not undertake a detailed study of the legal constraints which have already been taken up by other authors in detailed studies on this subject. This work was aimed to identify the main determinants whose meaning was superior in relation to the contemporary image of these elements of the religious heritage in the Silesian voivodeship, in terms of their number, distribution and maintenance status. To date, within the study area, only 14 buildings of synagogues have been retained of the 53 that existed to the period of Nazi terror (70% were demolished before the end of World War II). The inventory of the state of the buildings carried out by the author in 2015 did not allow to conduct a detailed analysis of the distribution of synagogues and the alleged differentiation in terms of physiognomy in Silesian voivodeship. Only an archive query in the Jewish Historical Institute and an analysis of the subject literature, completed with the acquisition of detailed information on the history and the original architectural character of the buildings, made it possible to study the subject. The author adopted a simplified classification of synagogues into two main groups: synagogues and temples. The analysis showed that most of the so-called progressive synagogues – temples, were built in areas included in the boundaries of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, that is lands on which the majority groups in the religious municipalities were German Jews, supporters of the Haskalah. Building this kind of synagogues was also associated with greater wealth of these communities, co-creating the industrial centers of Upper Silesia that were being built up then. It differed greatly from the northern parts of the study area, that is the former Polish Kingdom, included in the boundaries of the Russian Empire, where in more conservative Jewish circles mostly traditional synagogues were erected. The author also decided to perform a graphic reconstruction of the facade of modern synagogue buildings and location reconstruction of demolished buildings in the areas of settlement units. Their examples included in the article directly illustrate both the qualities lost by the buildings as well as their location in the spatial systems of the city. These days, with the exception of the significantly rebuilt synagogue in Lelów, the buildings do not play, even temporarily, a former religious function. Currently, 8 are developed for other purposes, for example, residential, commercial, and service. The remaining 5 are vacant, and according to the author, will be subject to deterioration.W artykule dokonano analizy rozmieszczenia i fizjonomii synagog, które funkcjonowały przed okresem terroru hitlerowskiego 1 na obszarze zawartym w granicach współczesnego województwa śląskiego. Autorka podzieliła obiekty synagogalne według podstawowych kryteriów architektonicznych na dwie główne klasy: bóżnice i temple. Przedstawienie wyników w formie kartograficznej ukazało zróżnicowanie rozmieszczenia poszczególnych rodzajów synagog na ziemiach pozostających w XIX i XX wieku w obrębie różnych jednostek politycznych. Zastosowano również autorski sposób fotograficznej rekonstrukcji pierwotnych cech fizjonomicznych synagog, których budynki przetrwały do dzisiaj, jednakże w znacznie zmienionych formach. Odtworzenie ich architektury możliwe było dzięki dokonanej przez autorkę inwentaryzacji oraz zebraniu archiwalnych materiałów – rycin i fotografii, pozyskanych głównie z zasobów Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie. Natomiast graficzne wizualizacje usytuowania nieistniejących synagog w obrębie współczesnych krajobrazów jednostek osadniczych dają pogląd na to, jak istotnymi elementami zagospodarowania przestrzeni były te obiekty, stanowiące niekiedy dominanty kompozycyjne poszczególnych założeń urbanistycznych