Belarus: Remaining Wooden Synagogue at Luban to be Designated Protected Site

Luban, Belarus. Surviving synagogue building.
Photo courtesy: Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus

Belarus: Remaining Wooden Synagogue at Luban to be Designated Protected Sites, ISJM Seeks Funds to Speed Up Belarus Synagogue Documentation
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) Last April and May, I reported on the unnecessary destruction of the wooden former synagogue in Luban (Lyubin), Belarus. At that time, there was also a second wooden building - now a music school - identified as a former synagogue. The destruction of one synagogue prompted research and appeals on behalf of the other, and now Yuri Dorn, Coordinator of Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus, reports that the surviving wooden synagogue in Luban will be included by the government preservation commission of historical and cultural heritage of Belarus on the list of objects under government protection.

At present, because of its use as music school, the building is not endangered. Many other synagogues in Belarus are, however, at risk. Some have been documented and even returned to the Jewish Community, but there are no funds for their restoration as Jewish synagogues or centers or their adaptive reuse. Many other former synagogue are hardly documented, and this is needed to preserve their history for the future, but also to better protect the buildings in the present. Archival documentations is needed, as well as the preparation of architectural plans and drawings. With proper documentation many of these buildings could be listed a protected sites and some might be developed as restoration and reuse projects.

ISJM in partnership with the Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus will support such documentation projects - provided funding. Contributions can be sent to ISJM - mark "Belarus" on the memo line. Our first funding goal the modest amount of $10,000 - but this will be sufficient to prepare substantial documentation on several sites.

For more information, contact me directly at samuelgruber@gmail.com

Belarus: Jewish Cemetery at Volkovysk Dug Up for Water & Sewer Pipelines

Volkovysk, Belarus. Recent excavation of the Jewish cemetery.
Photos from http://www.volkovysk.blogspot.com

Belarus: Jewish Cemetery at Volkovysk dug Up for Water & Sewer Pipelines
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The blogger http://www.volkovysk.blogspot.com/reports (in Russian) that excavation for new water and sewer pipelines in the Belarus town of Volkovysk unearthed Jewish burials in the Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was not fenced nor marked, but it is presumed that local authorities had some knowledge of its location. The construction firm obtained all necessary city permits to conduct the work. The excavation was not illegal according to local standards.

According to Yuri Dorn, Coordinator of Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus (JHRG) , there are about 20 gravestones still visible at the cemetery. The rest were used by the Nazis to pave a road to a local hospital. Presumably, most of those stones are still where they were placed in the road construction more than 60 years ago.

Tomorrow, the construction company plans to fill in the ditch with the new pipes, and to include the excavated bones. Jewish communal representatives are requesting that no action be taken until their arrival, so that reburial can be done under proper supervision. The JHRG will also try to arrange for a sign to mark the site. If they can get funds and permission, they will also erect a fence. Ideally, such intervention would be done proactively, not after the fact. But the reality of the situation - limited resources and many sites - makes this almost impossible in many cases.

This type of cemetery desecration is not uncommon in Belarus. It is the combined result of several factors:

• the long standing neglect of cemeteries
• public policy that for more than a half century has not recognized cemeteries without recent burials as protected sites
• ignorance on the part of local officials and others about local Jewish history and sites, and about Jewish religious laws regarding the sanctity of burials
• the inability of the Belarus Jewish community to document and adequately monitor the hundreds of Jewish sites throughout the country
• the lack of foreign (Western) presence and political and business pressure in Belarus for better policies
• lack of incentives to Belarus from abroad (EU, NATO, etc) to change its policies
  

For now, probably the best thing for those outside of Belarus to do is to write to the Belorussian embassies in their countries expressing concern about the continuing desecration of Jewish sites, and to request an explanation about why Belarus has not adopted policies to document, protect and preserve Jewish cemeteries.

Belarus: More on Demolition of Luban Synagogue

Former Synagogue Building in Luban, Belarus c. 2005.
Photos courtesy of Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus

Belarus: More on Demolition of Luban Synagogue
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) Yuri Dorn, Coordinator of Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus, has provided more information about the on-going demolition of the former synagogue in Luban, Belarus and has provided pictures of the impressive vernacular building, and of the memorial plaque. Demolition began last week, and as of yesterday the roof and its supporting system had been entirely removed. A vice-Mayor of Luban had informed the Research Group only a few days before of the demolition, and that "all legal procedures has been followed and all necessary permissions have been obtained." The former synagogue building will be replaced by a new large commercial structure - some sort of store.

According to Dorn, the Luban authorities did not inform Belarus Jewish community about planned demolition. He did not speculate why, but presumably they were either ignorant of the need to do so, or of any likely interest in the fate of the building, or they suspected that if word got out that their would be complaint. Based on my long experience in historic preservation I would assume the worst, and that is the reason for the rush to demolish, so that any protest will be too late. In 2004, the Jewish Community of Belarus tried unsuccessfully to include the Luban Synagogue building on the official registry of landmarks, but was unable to do so because of insufficient archival documentation about the building's history. Presumably it was not deemed eligible on architectural grounds alone.

Mr. Dorn warns of a similar situation is beginning to develop in Ivenets (Minsk district), where one of the three last wooden synagogue buildings in Belarus is under threat. ISJM will provide more information about that situation as soon as we learn more.