Circus Blocks Rebuilding of Nazi-Destroyed Synagogue

Kaliningrad, Russia [CHI] — Rabbi David Shvedik has been fighting for years for the reconstruction of the Great Synagogue in Kaliningrad, Russia, which was destroyed by the Nazis. For now, his efforts were unsuccessful. At the site where the majestic synagogue once stood, a circus performs today, and its leaders have flatly refused the offer of over half a million dollars to relocate. This is in spite of the fact that the land is outright property of the Jewish community.

Kaliningrad is the name of a city and surrounding region which, despite being a part of Russia, is disconnected entirely from the country and is bordered by Poland and Lithuania.

Historically, the region was a German territory called East Prussia; the capital city was known as Konigsberg. Due to its strategic location on the Baltic sea, the Russians annexed the region after capturing it from the Nazis in World War II, and renamed it after Mikhail Kalinin, a Communist party member of Joseph Stalin’s inner circle.

Once home to a large and thriving Jewish population and many great sages, such as the famed Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the city boasted a magnificent synagogue in its center. In 1938, on the infamous eve of “Kristallnacht,” the Nazis destroyed the synagogue. The holocaust and subsequent years of Soviet communism saw the once flourishing Jewish population dwindle to a mere 2,000.

Now, Chabad Shliach and chief rabbi Dovid Shvedik wants to rebuild a synagogue identical to the one that was devastated by the Nazis. Although the Jewish community owns the land, the matter is not simple: “We own the land, but the circus says they will not leave, and if we force them to move by trial, it will revive local anti-Semitism, because all the children of the city and their parents will be outraged by the idea of being deprived of the circus by Jews,” says the rabbi.

“The Jews of the city do not want any conflict, which is why we proposed to pay those currently established on the land which legally belongs to us, but our offer was rejected.”