Only 500 of Ulm’s general population of 180,000, are Jewish. And yet 2,000—a majority of them non-Jewish locals—came Sunday, December 2, to witness a historic milestone: the opening of a synagogue, the first and only one in 75 years, to grace the city’s center.  

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The event was significant, prompting Germany’s President Joachim Gauck to attend. “This is a gift to the German nation. That Jewish life has returned to Ulm is a blessing to Germany,” he said in his remarks. 

It was a poignant moment for local Jews, and especially for the 55 Ulm survivors of the Holocaust still alive today, who, at the invitation of the city, flew in from all parts of the world to see the new synagogue, constructed adjacent to the spot where the one they remember once stood, until Kristallnacht 1938, when it was burnt to the ground. 

Seventy five years later they witnessed the fanfare surrounding this event, including a parade with lively musical accompaniment making its way through the city streets as the synagogue’s new Torah was held aloft under a canopy. 

Rabbi Schneur Trebnik is community rabbi and Chabad’s representative to this city in the federal German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, situated on the River Danube some 74 miles west of Munich. Since arriving here 12 years ago, he and his wife Chani  have been working to resuscitate Jewish life in this high-tech city—home to Daimler, Siemens and Nokia—with a strong academic demographic. 

Working out of a rented facility, the Trebniks put the building blocks in place one at a time, eventually developing a Jewish infrastructure with a full range of Jewish educational and social programs serving all segments of Ulm’s small Jewish community. 

Slowly but surely Shabbat services began to draw a crowd, now numbering about 60; a Jewish youth program, preschool, and adult education classes gained traction. The need for a formal synagogue and Jewish community center became obvious, inspiring local people—both Jewish and non-Jewish—to join Rabbi Trebnik and raise funds for the 6,000 square foot, architecturally beautiful structure. 

Ulm’s nightscape is now illuminated by light sparkling through stars of David that form the Jerusalem-facing windows which wrap around the corner of the modern structure. Inside, a beautiful sanctuary, social hall, classrooms, preschool, mikveh, a library, and kosher kitchen, make up a comprehensive Jewish center with the promise of a richly enhanced Jewish experience for the city’s Jews.

Ulm’s Jewish population has not grown much since it peaked in 1920 with about 700 Jews. But the quality of Jewish life here, explains Rabbi Trebnik, now makes it a good place for the Jews who do live here. And if you ask President Gauck, the strong Jewish community in this city—birthplace of Albert Einstein—is a positive development for Germany at large.