Built in 1913 by Theodor Schreier and Viktor Postelberg, the synagogue was badly damaged during the November pogroms of 1938 and “aryanised” by the City of St. Pölten. The Jewish community did not re-establish after the devastation of the Nazi era, so in 1954 the building was restituted to the Jewish Community (IKG) of Vienna. Subsequent decades saw the building fall into disrepair, and it was threatened with demolition. However, between 1980 and 1984 it was renovated with funding from the Austrian Federal Government, the Federal State of Lower Austria and the City of St. Pölten. In 1988 the Institute for Jewish History in Austria moved into the adjoining cantor’s house.

The second renovation, which transformed the building into an barrier-free accessible cultural centre, was again a joint effort by the federal government, the state and the city. As part of the Culture St. Pölten 2024 initiative, each contributed one third of the 4.6-million-euro funding. IKG Vienna had previously transferred the synagogue building to the NÖ Museum GmbH for use. In April 2024 the building was reopened as Former Synagogue St. Pölten.

After several decades as an association, the Jewish Community of St. Pölten was officially founded in 1863. By 1910 it had more than 900 members in its wider geographical area. Their dispossession, expulsion and deportation began with the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938. 321 people were murdered in the Shoah. Only a few families returned after the war and the Jewish Community was never able to re-establish itself. Dr. Hans Morgenstern, “the last Jew of St. Pölten”, died in November 2023.

More information at: juden-in-st-poelten.at/de/juedische-gemeinde