Following Knoblauch's death in 1865, Friedrich August Stüler took responsibility for the majority of its construction as well as for its interior arrangement and design.

One of the few synagogues to survive Kristallnacht, it was badly damaged prior to and during World War II and subsequently much was demolished; the present building on the site is a reconstruction of the ruined street frontage with its entrance, dome and towers, along with only a few rooms behind.

Due to the unfavourable alignment of the property, the building's design required adjustment along a slightly turned axis.

With an organ and a choir, the religious services reflected the liberal developments in the Jewish community of the time.

[2]: 26 One of the concerts that occurred here was a Sabbath evening service composed by Jacob Weinberg (1879–1956) and conducted by estimed conductor Chemjo Winawer.

The work comprises twelve different musical compositions, all based on the prayers recited during the Sabbath Eve religious service.

It was plundered of its valuables, torched, and ultimately destroyed; only a bronze plaque at the site remains of this magnificent structure.

[citation needed] During the November Pogrom (9 November 1938), colloquially euphemised as "Kristallnacht", a Nazi mob broke into the Neue Synagoge, desecrated the Torah scrolls, smashed the furniture, piled up such contents as would burn in the synagogue interior, and set fire to them.

[3]: 77  Senior Lieutenant Wilhelm Krützfeld, head of the local police precinct, and Bellgardt's superior, later covered up[clarification needed] for him.

[5]: 58  On 5 April 1940 the Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt was required to announce that services in the New Synagogue would not be held until further notice;[5]: 58  this was the usual way Nazi prohibitions were publicised.

[5]: 59  During World War II the New Synagogue was heavily damaged; it was completely burned after Allied bombing during the Battle of Berlin, a series of British air raids lasting from 18 November 1943 until 25 March 1944.

The strike on the New Synagogue was recorded in the Berlin police commissioner's bomb damage reports, regularly issued after attacks, for the raid on the night of 22–23 November 1943.

East Berlin's Jewish Community, impoverished and small after the Holocaust (Shoah) and the flight of many surviving members from anti-Semitism, saw no chance to restore it.

[citation needed] The area behind the restored frontage, formerly the main prayer hall, remains an empty space, and is open to visitors.