Alumni Tribute to Europe’s Lost Synagogues Is an Artist’s Labor of Love Stories You May Like Alums’ Installation at the Venice Biennale Evokes Rising Seas Digital Artist Dreams His Creations in Pixels and Neurons Student’s Playful Paintings Showcase the Hill as You’ve Never Seen It Through paintings and prose, Andrea Strongwater ’70 remembers 77 Jewish houses of worship in 16 countries By Joe Wilensky The first meaningful artwork that Andrea Strongwater ’70 ever made was when she was in preschool in the early 1950s. In what to today’s eyes may seem a startlingly grim assignment for three year olds, she and her classmates were asked to envision what it might be like to be a child in Korea who’d been orphaned by then-ongoing war. “So I painted unmatched clothes, just hanging on a clothesline,” she recalls, “because my feeling was they didn’t have anything to wear.” More than seven decades later, Strongwater is an established artist who has enjoyed a long and varied career. Her latest work is an evocative collection of stories—crafted in images and prose—of another deeply sobering theme. Lost Synagogues of Europe: Paintings and Histories is the culmination of more than 15 years of research, writing, and artwork. In colorful detail and painstakingly compiled cultural histories, Strongwater tells the stories of 77 destroyed European synagogues, built from the early 1600s to 1930 across 16 countries, from Belarus to Croatia to Germany. She describes the inception, growth, flourishing, and ultimately tragic fates of their Jewish congregations and communities, with most of the destruction spanning from the Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) pogroms across Germany in 1938 through the end of the Holocaust. “Pre-WWII Jewish culture is brought to life in this rich illustrated tour of synagogues destroyed during the war,” says a Publishers Weekly review. “The result is a worthy tribute to an important piece of Jewish history.” The paintings, which Strongwater created on 8-by-10-inch paper using gouache (an opaque watercolor), depict a variety of structures: detailed and colorful wooden synagogues from the 1600s; elaborate late-1800s sanctuaries styled after churches, complete with bell towers; and multiple styles in between. Strongwater was able to find photographs and documentation of only a tiny fraction of the estimated 17,000 European synagogues that were destroyed before and during World War II. The book is the culmination of more than 15 years of research, writing, and artwork. (In the decades following the war, some small Jewish communities have returned and constructed new synagogues in their place, but the vast majority are remembered only with a plaque or dedicated plaza, if at all.) In the book’s foreword, Ismar Schorsch, chancellor emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary, notes that although the subject matter is “profoundly melancholy,” the volume is also highly instructive and uplifting. “Andrea’s signature blending of architecture and history is not an epitaph for the synagogue,” he writes, “but only for a stirring period of its multifaceted history.” 1600s-era synagogues like this one in Zabłudów (then in Russia) were often made of wood. The Old Synagogue in Berlin, Germany, built in 1714. The temple in Lviv, Ukraine, was constructed in 1845, when the city was part of the Austrian Empire. Stories You May Like Alums’ Installation at the Venice Biennale Evokes Rising Seas Digital Artist Dreams His Creations in Pixels and Neurons After majoring in fine arts in AAP, Strongwater—who served as CALS’ inaugural artist-in-residence in early 2025—designed sets and costumes for theater and dance; she went on to create custom knitwear under her own label and illustrate three children’s books. She first specialized in Jewish-themed artwork after she began licensing her paintings for calendars and greeting cards featuring holiday themes, scenes, and symbols. (She has also created Big Red-themed works, which can be found on puzzles at the Cornell Store.) Andrea’s signature blending of architecture and history is not an epitaph for the synagogue, but only for a stirring period of its multifaceted history. Ismar Schorsch, chancellor emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary Looking for additional ideas, she came across a book that included reprinted postcards of long-vanished, early 20th-century European synagogues. She decided to paint four of them in color, she says, “to jazz them up, bring them more to life.” The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, asked to sell the paintings as postcards—then wanted more. “I realized that I had to tell the story of these synagogues—people wanted the information—so I started to do the research, and it was mostly impossible,” she says. “There was just very little information; I couldn’t find anything.” A postcard of the interior of the synagogue in Tartu (then in Germany), built in 1903, and Strongwater’s re-creation. She sought out the museum’s head of education, who told her: “No one has done this research. You’re it. You’re the person doing it.” Strongwater began contacting staff at research centers, museums, seminaries, and reached out to Judaica collectors. She searched online for memoirs and artifacts; consulted sources like the Encyclopedia Judaica and the Jewish Virtual Library; and scoured auction sites for faded postcards and other documentation. I realized that I had to tell the story of these synagogues. In 2012, she published an early look with her first 20 paintings, Where We Once Gathered: Lost Synagogues of Europe, packaged as a publication for younger readers. The new book—released by the Jewish Publication Society and University of Nebraska Press—includes 112 paintings of synagogue exteriors and some interiors, re-created in color from black-and-white postcards, rare photographs, and architectural drawings. The exterior and interior of the synagogue in Livorno, in Italy's Tuscany region, built in 1603. Despite the tragic histories, Strongwater says she ultimately found something positive and even heartening in the project. “It didn’t feel like documenting loss, because what I was finding was the stories,” she says. “At the beginning, I cried a lot, because some of the stories are just so breathtakingly painful. But after a while, it felt like a mitzvah—and like I was doing something that needed to be done.” Top: Strongwater’s painting of the synagogue in Frankfurt, Germany, built in 1907. (All images provided.) Published: November 20, 2025 Comments Paula Jacobs, Class of 1971 2 Dec, 2025 Thank you for this article! Andrea’s research and art deeply touched me. Reply Andrea Strongwater 4 Dec, 2025 One of the good parts of the project is knowing that I’ve made more memories, more life that will be remembered of these communities. Reply Barry Oster, Class of 1975 2 Dec, 2025 What an accomplishment! Perpetuating the meaning and grandeur of an aspect of Jewish culture that would otherwise have been lost. Reply Andrea Strongwater, Class of 1969 4 Dec, 2025 It was a real big amount of work but hugely gratifying. Reply Jonathan Goldsmith, Class of 1977 2 Dec, 2025 What a magnificent tribute (and I just ordered the book). Having lived in Europe for six years while in the Army and knowing the synagogue in my father’s home town of Eschwege, Germany is now a church (not burnt because it is next door to the newspaper plant!), I am well aware of the criticality of keeping memories alive, especially in this day and age, for hate just breeds misery for all. These synagogues’ disappearance is a cultural and architectural disaster, not just a religious one. Reply Andrea Strongwater, Class of 1970 4 Dec, 2025 I hope you enjoy the book. I worked hard at finding all the story I could find. Reply Stephanie Adler Ben-Yaish, Class of 1976 2 Dec, 2025 I very much appreciate this labor of love. Having just been to Puglia where there once was a thriving Jewish population there is only a sign that indicates the street where a synagogue stood. Thank you for these precious reminders of our history. Reply Andrea Strongwater, Class of 1970 4 Dec, 2025 I also saw many places with just a cold hard sign marking what was once a synagogue representing a piece of a whole vibrant culture. This is my answer to those signs. Reply Shelley Winkler, Class of 1976 2 Dec, 2025 Thank you! I appreciate not only the history but also your art as a powerful way of sharing it. Reply Andrea Strongwater, Class of 1970 4 Dec, 2025 Glad it speaks to you! Reply Christi Cox, Class of 1970 2 Dec, 2025 Great project, Andrea! (Perhaps you remember me—Tina—from our 1970 BFA cohort) Reply Andrea Strongwater, Class of 1970 4 Dec, 2025 Yes Tina! I’m still working away at telling stories in pictures. Hope you are well too. 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