The square in front of the University library is named for the synagogue that stood here from 1870 until it was destroyed in the November 1938 pogrom. For decades after the war the site was an undistinguished lawn. In 2017 the city laid a shallow rectangular reflecting pool exactly on the foundation of the synagogue, so that the building's shape now lies under a thin sheet of water.
The square is also the site of regular student demonstrations — it sits beside the modern, mirror-glass University library — and a useful crossing point between the old town and the western part of the centre. The memorial is most affecting in the evening, when the water reflects the library and the trees opposite.