Serbia: Jewish Cemeteries Desecrated in Sombor and Subotica

Serbia: Jewish Cemeteries Desecrated in Sombor and Subotica

(ISJM) A news report from the Serbian New Agency Tanjug of June 2 states that cemeteries in Sombor and Subotica (Serbia) were damaged.

Here is the story:

Graves desecrated in Sombor, Subotica 2 June 2009 | 10:17 | Source: Tanjug

SOMBOR, SUBOTICA -- Sombor police say that an Orthodox cemetery was vandalized yesterday in Stapar and that about 200 gravestones were damaged.

The police stated that the investigative judge was looking into the situation along with the deputy municipal public prosecutor, the local police chief and other police officials.

Police are working intensively on getting to the bottom of the case and identifying those responsible for the crimes, which occurred in the early morning hours of Monday, according to the statement.

The Orthodox graveyard in Sombor is over 200 years old and locals living in this part of the town do not remember any similar cases of vandalism ever taking place.

Meanwhile, in Subotica, a Jewish cemetery was vandalized and 11 gravestones destroyed yesterday, police stated.

The investigative judge in Subotica has conducted an inquiry, and the deputy public prosecutor says the perpetrators, once found, will be charged with vandalizing graves.

Officials of the Jewish community visited the cemetery during the day, and an intensive search is under way for the culprits, Subotica police stated.

According to the website jewish-heritage-europe.eu, which has extensive information on-line about Serbian Jewish heritage sites, the Subotica Jewish cemetery is:

"large and well-maintained. It was founded soon after the establishment of the Subotica Jewish community was established in 1780. It contains both an Ohel and a Holocaust memorial. Major maintenance work began in 1999. The cemetery also includes gravestones (including many black marble obelisks) moved there in 2000 from the disused cemetery at Mali Iđoš." Subotica is also the site of one of the most impressive synagogues in Europe, which has been undergoing restoration for many years.

Bulgaria: Celebration of Sofia’s Central Synagogue Centennial Planned

Sofia, Bulgaria. Great Synagogue in final phase of restoration.
Photos: Samuel D. Gruber 2003

Bulgaria: Celebration of Sofia’s Central Synagogue Centennial Planned
by Samuel D. Gruber

ISJM) The Jewish Community of Bulgaria has announced the planned celebration of the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Central Sofia Synagogue, to take place on September 9, 2009. The Synagogue opened on September 9, 1909 in the presence of regional leaders, ministers and supreme representatives of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The large domed synagogue, located at Ekzarkh Josef St. 16, is a prominent architectural and urban landmark in downtown Sofia. It is the is the largest Sephardi Synagogue in the Balkans, and the third largest synagogue in Europe after those in Budapest (Dohany Street) and Amsterdam (Esnoga). Designed by Austrian architect Friedrich Gruenanger (1856-1929), the large domed structure was erected from 1905 to 1910. After falling into disrepair, the building was restored over a period of many years, and is now a great source of pride for Bulgarian Jews.

Prayer services have been held at the synagogue regularly since its opening, except for the years 1943-44 when most of the Jews of Sophia were removed to the countryside. The synagogue was not, however, severely damaged by the Nazis or local Fascists during the war. Instead, most wartime damage was the result of Allied bombing in 1944, when the gallery and several columns in the sanctuary were partially destroyed. After the War, most Bulgarian Jews emigrated to Israel. The remaining community could not afford to fully restore the synagogue, though small repairs were made intermittently between 1945 and 1989. Only in 1989 did the gradually reviving, but still small, Jewish community begin a full-scale restoration, which progressed in fits and starts as support from international partners was available The synagogue was officially rededicated in 1996, but restoration work continued for another decade.

For more information please send an email to: info@shalom.bg

The building combines various historical styles, particularly Byzantine and Moorish, in an expressive eclecticism characteristic of the early 20th century. Compare the building to the near contemporary large central-plan, domed syangogues of SuboticaSerbia) and Szeged (Hungary). Sofia, however, the choice of style may also reflect local history. In In the past, Bulgaria was part of the Byzantine Empire and then the Ottoman Empire. Many of Bulgaria’s Jews are descendants of Sephardi refugees from Spain. Thus, the Great Synagogue is a rare example where Spanish (Moorish) architectural motifs are actually employed in a synagogue that serves a congregation with roots in Spain. Architectural historian Carol Herselle Krinsky has pointed out that the design of the synagogue may also have been due in part to the Bulgarian nationalist movement in architecture that developed around 1900, and was dependent in large part on Byzantine sources (see Krinsky, Synagogues of Europe, pp 183-186 for a more detailed history in English).

The interior is decorated with multicolored mosaics, Carrara marble columns, ornamental carvings and other types of wall ornamentation. A brass chandelier weighing over 2200 kilos, the large candelabra and other decorations were imported from Vienna. The ceiling is painted to portray the heavens – a sea of stars on a blue background. Click here for an extensive gallery of photos.

Europe: World Monuments Fund Announces Jewish Heritage Grants

Europe: World Monuments Fund Announces Jewish Heritage Grants

The New York-based World Monuments Fund has announced four grants totaling $235,000 to European Jewish preservation projects as part of its Jewish Heritage Grant Program. Funds will be allocated to on-going projects at three historic synagogues and for conservation planning for the former Volozhin Yeshiva Building in Belarus.

The projects include the important 17th-century synagogue in Zamosc, Poland that in recent decades served as a municipal library, but is now restituted to the Jewish Community of Warsaw which is overseeing a needed conservation and repair program; the Jugenstil synagogue of Subotica, Serbia, which has been a focus of WMF concern for more than a decade; and the 1903 Choral Synagogue of Vilnius, Lithuania, the only surviving intact synagogue in the city, and now the focal point of it religious life.

I'll be posting more about all of these projects in the future.