An attack on Poland’s last surviving prewar synagogue
On the night of February 25–26, 1997, an arson attack targeted the Nożyk Synagogue in central Warsaw. The perpetrators set fire to the vestibule, damaging the entrance area before the flames were contained. As the only prewar synagogue in Warsaw to survive the Holocaust, the attack struck at the heart of Poland’s postwar Jewish community and carried a deeply symbolic meaning of hatred and intimidation.
An assault on heritage and memory
The Nożyk Synagogue, built in 1898–1902, remained the sole active synagogue in Warsaw after World War II and, for decades, the only functioning one in all of Poland. Restored in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it served as both a house of worship and a cultural hub for Jewish life in the capital. The arson occurred late at night when the building was empty, avoiding casualties but causing widespread fear.
The attack was never solved, but its significance was profound. It came amid a series of far-right provocations and hate crimes in the 1990s, reflecting a resurgence of neo-Nazi activity and antisemitic sentiment in post-communist Poland. For the Jewish community, the burning of the synagogue’s doors was not only an act of vandalism but a deliberate message of exclusion and denial—an attempt to erase the fragile revival of Jewish presence in Polish public life.
Further Reading / Sources
Brunatna Księga 1987–2009
Marcin Kornak, Warszawa: Stowarzyszenie „Nigdy Więcej” – 2009
“Arson Attack on Warsaw Synagogue Sparks Condemnation.”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency – 1997