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The Great Synagogue of Bialystok, 1920. |
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From Rose
Markus Schachner: "My grandfather Solomon Rabinovitch (pictured left) built the Great Synagogue, which took four years to build, from 1909 until its completion in 1913. The synagogue, located on Suraska Street, was topped by a large dome with a spire of ten meters, with two smaller symmetrical domes atop its two side halls. The Germans occupied Bialystok in June 1941. They immediately burned down portions of the Jewish neighborhood, including the Great Synagogue. On June 27, the Germans locked 1,500 Jews inside the synagogue and burned them alive, the synagogue being burnt to the ground with all the people inside. A memorial plaque to the 1,500 Jews who were burned alive, as well as the reconstruction of the wrecked Great Synagogue dome, was dedicated in August 1995." |
Photos courtesy of Rose Markus Schachner.