On 10 September 2024, the currently dreary site of the former Ez Chaim Synagogue in the Kolonnaden-Quarter will be enriched by another element of remembrance. A sound installation will now make the site audible and permanently characterise it as a place to listen and remember.
The Ez Chaim Synagogue, once the largest orthodox synagogue in Saxony, was inaugurated in 1922 and was only able to be a place of vibrant Jewish life for 16 years until its destruction in the pogrom night of 1938. During this time, it was also a regular centre of attraction for synagogue singing. Since then, the site has led a shadowy existence as a car park with the inhospitable appearance of a concrete surface. The synagogue was primarily a home for Jewish people who had to flee from the pogroms that began in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century. For several decades, Leipzig was a place of refuge for persecuted Jews in Europe before the Germans drove them out of the city.

The components of the sound installation are two original recordings, one of the singing of the senior cantor Nahum Wilkomirski, who was known far beyond Leipzig at the time, and a second recording of the cantor Salomon Kupfer from the 1920s. The sound is triggered daily for a limited period of time as people pass the site. The installation is a worthy addition to the large banner on the gable wall, which shows the interior of the synagogue and was installed last year.
The event will include musical contributions by cellist Ayala Sivan Levi in the Jewish Orthodox tradition as well as explanatory and welcoming remarks.