While older synagogues – such as that on Rykestrasse – had usually been erected in backyards, the temple with its richly decorated frontage was intended as a visible statement of Jewish emancipation in the German Empire.

Emperor Wilhelm II presented the synagogue with a ceremonial marriage hall richly adorned with Maiolica tiles from his manufacture in Kadinen, dedicated to the Jews of Germany, and, as Magnus Davidsohn's daughter, Ilse Stanley, describes in her book The Unforgotten, visited the temple upon its opening.

Kurt Tucholsky on this occasion mocked "the patriotic synagogue" criticizing a voluntary assimilation of German Jews while the ruling class had nothing but contempt for them.

At the Beer Hall Putsch commemoration in Munich, Minister Joseph Goebbels had personally given the orders to smash the synagogue,[3] at that time the largest in Berlin.

On November 9, 1969, during ceremonies to commemorate the Kristallnacht, the Tupamaros West-Berlin attempted to attack the Community Center; the bomb, supplied by undercover government agent Peter Urbach, failed to explode.