[3] On November 7, 1938, in the course of Kristallnacht, the synagogue was desecrated by the Nazis; part of its interior decoration and ritual accessories were burned outside.

Many Jews had already fled the city when, on November 7, 1938, activists of the NSDAP broke into the synagogue, destroyed the Torah Ark, and set the prayer scrolls and other objects on fire.

Shortly after that, the city authorities decided to tear down the building, which had remained intact, to use the location as a parking lot.

As it in turn became too small for the growing Jewish community, another new synagogue, designed by Alfred Jacoby,[1] in the Modernist style, built of concrete, was completed in 2000.

[2] Funds for its construction were provided by, among others, the government of Hesse, the city of Kassel, the North-Hesse administrative districts, the local branch of the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Catholic Diocese of Fulda, and through private donations.