jewish cemeteries, synagogues, and mass grave sites in ukraine

The Central Synagogue of Sadhora (Chernivetska oblast), built around the year 1770 and used by
famed Hasidic Rabbi Israel Friedman, still stands. It served as a machine shop for local
collective farms during the Soviet era. In 1991, it was one of the first synagogues in Ukraine to
be returned to the Jewish community. Unfortunately, it has been abandoned while various
Jewish factions argue over its future use. The exterior walls have survived reasonably intact, but
the interior is very deteriorated. A severe roof leak has developed in the rear.
The once-elegant rabbi’s house located next to the Central Synagogue was used as a municipal
office until at least 1995. It, too, is abandoned now and rapidly deteriorating from water damage.
An international committee has been formed with the hope of restoring the Sadhora sites, but no
specific plans have yet been prepared or presented, and no funding secured. The local authorities
are eager for assistance to return the buildings to their former state. 58
The 1991 governmental decree ensured the restitution of some Jewish communal religious
properties, primarily synagogues, in Ukraine. Since the decree was issued, 55 synagogues have
been returned to local Jewish communities. But some Jewish communities have found it
difficult to regain their properties because local authorities, influenced by anti-Semitic and
extreme nationalist elements, have been lax in implementing the decree. The small central
Ukrainian Jewish community of Khmilnyk, for example, has encountered fierce resistance in its
attempt to reclaim its former synagogue. In 1997, the region’s administration agreed to return
the building. However, the decision was appealed to a higher court, which overruled the grant.
In order to assist Jewish communities in their efforts to regain synagogues, the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee -the Joint- has distributed instructional materials for people
involved in problems of restitution and renovation. The first Guide for the Return of Confiscated
Jewish Communal Property was issued in June 1995, with advice from an historian, a lawyer,
and an engineer, as well as the texts of laws and government decisions about restitution. 59
The restoration of the main synagogue of Vinnytsia was completed in 1997. The building had
been confiscated in the 1930s by Soviets and later served as a concert hall. In 1996, it was given
back to the Jewish Community for use as a synagogue. Restoration was made possible through
funding by the Joint. 60
Two events in 2000 received worldwide attention – the return and restoration of synagogues in
Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk. In March 2000, Ukrainian Jews rededicated one of the largest
synagogues in Eastern Europe, the Great Synagogue in Kyiv, commonly called the Brodsky
Synagogue. It had served for over a half century as a puppet theater. Built in 1898 by sugar
industry tycoon and Jewish leader Lazar Brodsky, the synagogue served as the focal point of the
city’s varied Jewish activities.
58 Clifford M. Rees provided the information on these sites and Dr. Raymond Guggenheim provided the
photographs of the Sadhora synagogue and cemetery.
59 Michael Beizer, Our Legacy: The CIS Synagogues, Past and Present (Moscow and Jerusalem: The American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 2002), 67.
60 For before and after photographs see M. Weiner, op. cit., 255.
63