Striking photographs of abandoned synagogues in Bulgaria appear in the Bulgarian monthly Vagabond.
The photos, by Anthony Georgief, accompany an article by Violeta Rozova that describes the condition of the buildings. She writes:
At the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria was the only European country whose Jewish population was bigger than before the war began. Still, by the early 1950s, Bulgaria’s 49,000-strong Jewish population has shrunk to about 8,000. Fearful of their future under the new Communist regime, with its repression and nationalization of businesses and properties, the majority of the Bulgarian Jews decided that they would rather live in the nascent State of Israel.
What was left behind were the synagogues. Their archives were moved to Sofia, and the abandoned buildings were lent to local city councils. In the following decades, empty synagogues were used and reused as community centers, concert halls and warehouses, or were left to decay. After democratization in 1989, the synagogues were returned to the Jewish community but, lacking congregations and funding, only two of these were capable of sustaining religious life: the synagogues in Sofia and Plovdiv. The rest remain abandoned, or used for other purposes.
The photo essay and article feature seven synagogues:
The synagogues in Vidin and Varna are gaping ruins.
That in Burgas is used as an art gallery.
The once elegant synagogue in Samokov, a landmark of Balkan architecture, is abandoned and dilapidated after plans to turn it into a museum stalled for lack of funding and interest.
In Gotse Delchev the domed red brick synagogue is used as a dwelling and storehouse.
In Silistra — where the tomb of Rabbi Eliezar Papo (1785-1828) is still a pilgrimage site — its synagogue is now used as an Evangelical church. In Ruse, too, one of the town’s two synagogues is now a church.
Click to read the full article and see the pictures