The old synagogue was built in 1959. The facades were decorated with stained glass windows by the renowned master glassmaker Ruhlmann and represented the twelve tribes of Israel. The building now houses Espace Harmonie, dedicated to the city's cultural and musical associations. When the Hitler hordes came in 1940, they burned down our old country synagogue, then razed the blackened and destroyed walls. As early as 1941 the two beautiful oak twisted columns, which supported the Jerusalem lions crouching on Corinthian capitals, were reduced to ashes; the Torah scrolls were torn up, desecrated, dragged through the mud, then publicly burned along with the long linen bands used for the ritual circumcision of the community's infants and which had surrounded and protected them until the last day... (...) We had gained a revenge on the fate that, too quickly, had condemned us all to ultimate annihilation. The opening of the reconstructed building on November 15, 1959, was the occasion of the shocking reunion of all those, young or old, distant friends, who had escaped the extermination of the Jews of Europe. Members of my family attended this meeting along with the local authorities; even the sub-prefect of Haguenau was inconvenienced by the occasion. Of course, alongside the Chief Rabbi of the Lower Rhine, Abraham Deutsch, in ceremonial petticoat and tricorn, our old hazan (cantor) was the lookout for this unforgettable celebration.