Volunteers have been working this week to clear the ruins of the Great Synagogue in Krynki, in eastern Poland, of vegetation and detritus.
It’s part of a project that also includes an open-air art installation by the sculptor Miroslaw Balka to draw attention to the ruins and restore dignity to the site, that falls within the 15th Trialogue multi-cultural festival in the Bialystok area.
The remains of three synagogues, as well as the extensive Jewish cemetery, still can be seen in Krynki, a forming tannery center on Poland’s border with Belarus. Two synagogue buildings still stand — one long used as a cinema, the other as warehouse.
But only the massive stone foundations of the Great Synagogue, in the center of the town, still exist, long overgrown and almost totally covered by weeds, brush and other vegetation.