Wikipedia's first sentence called it “cultural meeting center and memorial in the city of essen in west germany”. Today it says “former reform jewish congregation and synagogue”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Old Synagogue ( German : Alte Synagoge ) is a former Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue , located at Steeler Straße 29, in Essen , in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany . The former synagogue was repurposed in 1960 as a Jewish museum . The building is one of the largest, best preserved and architecturally most impressive testimonies to Jewish culture in pre-war Germany. Built in the centre of the city, the Byzantine Revival and Art Nouveau style former synagogue was originally consecrated as the Neue Synagoge in 1913 and operated as a synagogue until Kristallnacht in 1938. The building houses an institution dedicated to documenting and promoting the history of the city's former Jewish community. After being severely damaged during Kristallnacht , but fortunately avoiding further damage from bombing during WWII, the burnt out interior was first completely redesigned to become a Museum of Industrial design in 1960. With greater interest in historic preservation, it underwent a second restoration in the 1980s to its original design; in preparation for its new use as a memorial centre and museum. The attached Rabbinerhaus (House of the Rabbi) has housed the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute since 2011. Historic synagogs of Europe . Foundation for Jewish Heritage and the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . n.d .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1290963189.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Alte Synagoge , Essen The Old Synagogue ( ) is a cultural meeting center and memorial in the city of Essen in West Germany. It is located in the center of the city on Steeler Straße 29, close to the present city hall. The memorial center was founded in 1980 and is accommodated in the pre-war Jewish community's synagogue. The synagogue, together with the attached Rabbinerhaus (House of the Rabbi), which today houses the archives of the city of Essen, was finished after a two-year construction period in 1913. It was originally consecrated as the Neue Synagoge (New Synagogue). Today the building is one of the largest, best preserved and architecturally most impressive testimonies to Jewish culture in pre-war Germany.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 345486361.
The opening as it stood in 2020 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Old Synagogue ( ) in Essen is one of the largest, best preserved and architecturally most impressive testimonies to Jewish culture in pre-war Germany. Built in the centre of the city, the Byzantine style former Synagogue was originally consecrated as the Neue Synagoge in 1913, and is now an institution dedicated to documenting and promoting the history of former Jewish community of the city.After being severely damaged in Kristallnacht in 1938 but avoiding further bomb damage, the burnt out interior was completely redesigned to become a Museum of Industrial design in 1960, and then restored to something like its original appearance in the 1980s when it began its new role as a memorial centre and museum.The attached Rabbinerhaus (House of the Rabbi) has housed the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute since 2011.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 953310670.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Building in Essen, Germany The Old Synagogue ( ) in Essen is one of the largest, best preserved and architecturally most impressive testimonies to Jewish culture in pre-war Germany. Built in the centre of the city, the Byzantine style former Synagogue was originally consecrated as the Neue Synagoge in 1913; it now houses an institution dedicated to documenting and promoting the history of the city's former Jewish community.After being severely damaged during Kristallnacht in 1938, but fortunately avoiding further damage from bombing during WWII, the burnt out interior was first completely redesigned to become a Museum of Industrial design in 1960.With greater interest in historic preservation, it underwent a second restoration in the 1980s to its original design; in preparation for its new use as a memorial centre and museum. The attached Rabbinerhaus (House of the Rabbi) has housed the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute since 2011.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177376253.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “cultural meeting center and memorial in the city of essen in west germany”. Today it says “former reform jewish congregation and synagogue”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
cultural meeting center and memorial in the city of essen in west germany
Now
former reform jewish congregation and synagogue
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
