Russian city returns synagogue closed by Communists to Jewish community

Municipal authorities in the Russian city of Syzran returned a synagogue to the local Jewish community that was shut down by the Communists nearly 90 years ago.

The synagogue, which was built in 1910 and closed 20 years later, was returned. Syzran, which is located in the Volga region, at the foot of the Ural Mountains, has a small Jewish community.

Mayor Nikolay Lyadin’s decision means that within the next two years, the building, which is recognised as a monument for preservation, will be rededicated and receive a Torah scroll.

Its community of about 150 members had requested the return of the synagogue in 1943. Under the antisemitic policies of Joseph Stalin, few Jewish communities requested concessions from Soviet authorities for fear that doing so would lead to reprisals.

Their request was denied and the synagogue, which became a cultural club, has not been used as a Jewish house of worship since.

Jewish communities in the Volga area during the war and afterward suffered fewer antisemitic policies from authorities than further west in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Many Jews settled in the Volga area after the 1950s because universities there did not discriminate against Jewish students who were not admitted to higher education institutions further west.

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