Attacks on synagogues
[1] Violent attacks on synagogues featured prominently in the Nazi German effort to persecute the Jews of Europe.
[7] In the twentieth century, a major event involving the destruction of synagogues was the Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, occurring on November 9–10, 1938.
The event was a pogrom against Jews carried out in Nazi Germany by the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) paramilitary forces, with participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians.
[8]: 13, 15, 118 Of the 93 synagogues and Jewish prayer houses in Vienna, the Stadttempel was the only one in the city to survive World War II, as it could not be destroyed without setting adjoining buildings on fire.
[9][10] Similar destruction occurred throughout Austria, carried out by the Austrian SA with synagogues destroyed in Eisenstadt, Linz, Salzburg, and resort towns.
Many other anti-Semitic measures were launched at the same time, ultimately followed by the murder of the vast majority of the Jews of Latvia.
[11] That same year, in Paris, on the night of October 2–3, 1941, explosive devices were placed in front of six synagogues causing damage to them.
These events took place during an increase in antisemitic activity in the United States, both nonviolent and violent, after U.S. Supreme Court established that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional with Brown v. Board of Education in May 1954.
[24] The mass shooting and grenade attack killed two people and wounded 18 others attending a Bar mitzvah service.
The explosion took place shortly after 9:00 AM on a Tuesday morning, a few minutes before Simchat Torah religious services were to begin.
[32] Reportedly, a pair of terrorists entered on the men's side of the mechitza and opened fire on the crowd with machine guns.
[45] The attack occurred on 11 April 2002, involving a natural gas truck fitted with explosives which drove past security barriers at the ancient El Ghriba synagogue.
[46] The truck detonated at the front of the synagogue, killing 14 German tourists, three Tunisians, and two French nationals.
[52] Security guards were tied up and gagged and the gang destroyed offices and the repository where the holy books were stored.
Two Palestinian men attacked synagogue congregants with axes, knives, and a gun, killing four worshippers, injuring eight others including a Druze Israeli police officer who later died of his wounds.
