The New Synagogue was built to serve the growing Jewish population in Berlin, in particular, immigrants from the East.
It was the largest synagogue in Germany at the time, seating 3,000 people.
The building housed public concerts, including a violin concert with Albert Einstein in 1930.
With an organ and a choir, the religious services reflected the liberal developments in the Jewish community of the time.

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.
Lieutenant Otto Bellgardt, the police officer of the local police precinct on duty that night, arrived on the scene in the early morning of 10 November and ordered the arsonists to disperse.
He said the building was a protected historical landmark and drew his pistol, declaring that he would uphold the law requiring its protection.
This allowed the fire brigade to enter and extinguish the fire before it could spread to the fabric of the building, and the synagogue was saved from destruction.
Senior Lieutenant Wilhelm Krützfeld, head of the local police precinct, and Bellgardt's superior, later covered up for him.
Berlin's police commissioner Graf Helldorf only verbally reprimanded Krützfeld for shielding his subordinate and, partly in consequence, Krützfeld has often mistakenly been identified as the rescuer of the New Synagogue.

The New Synagogue, like the synagogue in Rykestrasse, remained intact and was subsequently repaired by the congregation, who continued to use it as synagogue until 1940.
Besides being used for prayers, the main hall was also used for concerts and lectures, since Jews were banned from other venues.
The main prayer hall was last used by the congregation for a concert on Sunday, 31 March 1940.
The concert was the last of a series of benefit concerts in aid of the Jüdisches Winterhilfswerk (Jewish Winter Aid Endowment), a charity helping poor Jews, who had been excluded from government benefits.
On 5 April 1940 the Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt was required to announce that services in the New Synagogue would not be held until further notice; this was the usual way Nazi prohibitions were publicised.
Congregants were requested to evacuate their belongings from their shelves in the prayer hall by Monday April 8.
The main hall was then seized by the Heeresbekleidungsamt III (uniform department No.
III) of the Heer (German Army), who used it to store uniforms.

The Rykestraße Synagogue was closed and seized by the Heer a week later.
The Jewish Community of Berlin continued to use the office rooms in the front section of New Synagogue, including the Repräsentantensaal (hall of the assembly of elected community representatives) below the golden dome.
The congregation occasionally held prayers in this hall until September 1942, when it had to evacuate the front section as well.
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.

The building to the left from the New Synagogue, and the second one to the right at Oranienburger Straße 28, also belonged to Berlin's Jewish Community.
These buildings survived the war intact, and it was in the latter that surviving Jews formally reconstituted the Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin, Berlin's mainstream Jewish congregation, in 1946.
In the immediate post-war years, there were the anti-Semitic manifestations in Czechoslovakia (Slánský trial, November 1952), arrests and interrogations of Jews in East Berlin and East Germany (January 1953), and the Soviet Doctors' plot (started on 13 January 1953).
Members of the Jüdische Gemeinde in East Berlin, hoping to spare themselve
The New Synagogue was built to serve the growing Jewish population in Berlin, in particular, immigrants from the East. It was the largest synagogue in Germany at the time, seating 3,000 people. The building housed public concerts, including a violin concert with Albert Einstein in 1930. With an organ and a choir, the religious services reflected the liberal developments in the Jewish community of the time.
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. Lieutenant Otto Bellgardt, the police officer of the local police precinct on duty that night, arrived on the scene in the early morning of 10 November and ordered the arsonists to disperse. He said the building was a protected historical landmark and drew his pistol, declaring that he would uphold the law requiring its protection. This allowed the fire brigade to enter and extinguish the fire before it could spread to the fabric of the building, and the synagogue was saved from destruction. Senior Lieutenant Wilhelm Krützfeld, head of the local police precinct, and Bellgardt's superior, later covered up for him. Berlin's police commissioner Graf Helldorf only verbally reprimanded Krützfeld for shielding his subordinate and, partly in consequence, Krützfeld has often mistakenly been identified as the rescuer of the New Synagogue.
The New Synagogue, like the synagogue in Rykestrasse, remained intact and was subsequently repaired by the congregation, who continued to use it as synagogue until 1940. Besides being used for prayers, the main hall was also used for concerts and lectures, since Jews were banned from other venues. The main prayer hall was last used by the congregation for a concert on Sunday, 31 March 1940. The concert was the last of a series of benefit concerts in aid of the Jüdisches Winterhilfswerk (Jewish Winter Aid Endowment), a charity helping poor Jews, who had been excluded from government benefits. On 5 April 1940 the Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt was required to announce that services in the New Synagogue would not be held until further notice; this was the usual way Nazi prohibitions were publicised. Congregants were requested to evacuate their belongings from their shelves in the prayer hall by Monday April 8. The main hall was then seized by the Heeresbekleidungsamt III (uniform department No. III) of the Heer (German Army), who used it to store uniforms.
The Rykestraße Synagogue was closed and seized by the Heer a week later. The Jewish Community of Berlin continued to use the office rooms in the front section of New Synagogue, including the Repräsentantensaal (hall of the assembly of elected community representatives) below the golden dome. The congregation occasionally held prayers in this hall until September 1942, when it had to evacuate the front section as well. 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.
The building to the left from the New Synagogue, and the second one to the right at Oranienburger Straße 28, also belonged to Berlin's Jewish Community. These buildings survived the war intact, and it was in the latter that surviving Jews formally reconstituted the Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin, Berlin's mainstream Jewish congregation, in 1946. In the immediate post-war years, there were the anti-Semitic manifestations in Czechoslovakia (Slánský trial, November 1952), arrests and interrogations of Jews in East Berlin and East Germany (January 1953), and the Soviet Doctors' plot (started on 13 January 1953). Members of the Jüdische Gemeinde in East Berlin, hoping to spare themselve
New Synagogue (Berlin)