A group of young people wants to save the Moorish-style, red-brick former synagogue building in the small town of Radzanów, in central Poland.
Devastated in World War II, the building, dating from the beginning of the 20th century and listed as a cultural landmark since 1975, was used as a fertilizer warehouse from 1978 and then was restored in 1986 as the town library. The building has been standing derelict since the library was moved to another location about 15 years ago. Some of the interior elements remain.
As reported in Virtual Shtetl and the local newspaper/news site Gość Płocki, the restoration effort was spearheaded by a high school student, Kuba Baliński, who contacted a local art-lovers and culture society about his concerns for the building. The project is under way as part of the Bring Memory Back project of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ), which owns the building.
The group has set up a Facebook page with details.
“We want to find someone who will help us reconstruct this synagogue,” Magda Adamska told Agnieszka Otłowska of Gość Płocki. “We are looking for people who will not only offer financial support for our project, but will also help find Jewish communities interested in this initiative.”
Click for the group’s Facebook page
7 comments on “Poland: saving the synagogue in Radzanów?”
I am representative of TMTTB, whtch realizes the FODZ Synagogue in Radzanow project.
I have forwarded your letter to Kuba.
I will write to you in e-mail soon.
Norman Ravvin please note
Hello, please write to me: [email protected]
Krzysztof Bielawski
I have just discovered the efforts to revive and educate your community about the Radzanow synagogue.
My family is from Radzanow and Mlawa — my mother born in Radzanow — and I have visited on four occasions. In the prewar era my grandmother’s half-sister had a dry goods shop on Pilsudski Square.
I’ve done substantial research and writing — personal and scholarly — on Jewish life in your area.
I’ve just finished a novel set in part in contemporary Radzanow, but my past work is more specifically on the prewar Jewish past.
I’d be glad to be in touch with Kuba Balinski, in the hope that I might suggest avenues for efforts for work on the synagogue, or with Krzysztof BIelawski, who is listed among the interested workers on the project’s behalf.
I do know of Radzanowers in New York City, and I’d be glad to come to Radzanow myself to talk about the Jewish past there. I have only English and Yiddish, though, so that is one challenge at hand. I am planning to give a talk in Torun in May.
I have, as well, contacts in the Polish museum and university community, who might be interested in the local project.
If you will pass my name on to anyone involved in the synagogue efforts, I’d be glad to explore things with them.
Best,
Dr. Norman Ravvin
Past Chair, Canadian Jewish Studies
Dept of Religion
Concordia University
Montreal, QC Canada
That sounds great. If you follow the links on the post you will find the cultural association that the young people are working with, and also FODZ.
Hi Mr. Ravvin
My name is shmuel Ribiat my great grandparents lived in Radzanów before moving to the USA .
I am actually presently in the process of opening a synagogue in Israel and the name of the Synagogue is Radzanów!
For the time being we are renting a building, with an eventual dream to build. It is my hope that we will be able to build an identical or at least a similar building and keep the name Radzanów alive in a thriving Jewish community today.
Zein Gezunt,
All the best,
shmuel Ribiat
Follow this and other FODZ projects in Poland on the Foundation’s facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/fodz.jewish.poland/