The Zionskirche was damaged during what British/American attack during World War II?
Zionskirche, Dresden The Zionskirche is the name given to two Evangelical Lutheran church buildings in the Südvorstadt district of Dresden. The first, the "Alte Zionskirche" or "Old Zion's Church" was built by Schilling & Graebner from 1908 to 1912. This building was hit and badly damaged by fire during the bombing in February 1945. A temporary roof was later added and it is now preserved as a ruin, housing a lapidarium with 3000 sculptures. The parish, meanwhile, was housed in a barracks next to the ruins until the first stone of a new building (the "Neue Zionskirche") was laid on Bayreuther Straße on 5 June 1981, as a gift from the Church of Sweden. With its construction overseen by Eberhard Burger, the new building was inaugurated on 31 October 1982.
History of the Jews in Poland The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over 1000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the Partitions of Poland which began in 1772, in particular, with the discrimination and persecution of Jews in the Russian Empire. During World War II there was a nearly complete genocidal destruction of the Polish Jewish community by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, during the 1939–1945 German occupation of Poland and the ensuing Holocaust. Since the fall of Communism in Poland there has been a Jewish revival, characterized by the annual Jewish Culture Festival, new study programmes at Polish high schools and universities, the work of synagogues such as the Nożyk, and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.