For communities that more strictly adhered to religious traditions, the new Dohány Street Synagogue was unacceptable, both religiously and architecturally. So, a group that was more traditional than the neolog community, but less religious than the Orthodox community and who was still assimilated in some ways, built the Rumbach Sebestyén Street Synagogue.
The building was designed by the world famous Art Nouveau architect, Otto Wagner. The plaque on the facade of this building reminds us of the tragedy of the Holocaust. In August of 1941, people who were unable to provide documentation of their citizenship -- most of which were Hungarian Jews living in Budapest but originally from the neighboring countries (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Germany) -- were forced to gather at the synagogue. From there, they were deported to present day Ukraine, Kamenyec-Podolsk, were handed over to the Nazis who murdered them there.