Eighty-five years ago, Munich’s main synagogue was demolished on direct orders from Adolf Hitler — a harbinger of the destruction to come. But early in July, The New York Times said, during a project to refurbish old underwater infrastructure, a construction crew found pieces of the synagogue in a river five miles from where it once stood in Munich.

The items construction workers found, including columns and a large piece of the synagogue’s Torah shrine, were 15 to 25 feet below the surface of the Isar River.

Hitler had ordered it destroyed in June 1938 after visiting the neighborhood days before. Officially, it was removed to make room for a parking lot. The company in charge of the demolition stored the rubble in its yard until using it to fortify the river infrastructure in the mid-1950s.

Now that officials know what was hidden in the underwater rubble, an estimated 150 tons of it will be transferred to a city yard to be carefully scrutinized for more pieces of the synagogue — a job that could take years, The Times said.                        Photo Sueddeutsche Zeitung