The abandoned Great Synagogue in Kobrin, Belarus is up for auction on May 15. The starting price advertised on the e-auction web site is around €165,000.
The grand masonry synagogue — one of the largest in Belarus –synagogue dates from the 19th century (though a detailed description on the Center for Jewish Art web site, says it dates from the 18th century).
Archival sources cited in a 2017 book on Belarusian synagogues say it was built in the mid-19th century. But according to a history of the synagogue on JewishGen, it was built in the latter part of the 19th century, when Jews made up around two-thirds of the population of the town, and replaced a wooden synagogue that had burned down in a fire in 1863 that devastated Kobrin.
During WW2, almost all of Kobin’s Jews were killed after the Germans occupied the town in 1941. After the war, the building was used for grain storage and then as a facility making beer and soft drinks.
It was returned to the tiny post-USSR Jewish community, and there were plans to restore it as a Jewish cultural center, but these never materialized, and the building has stood empty and in deteriorating condition for the last two decades — as shown by the photos on the e-auction web site.
However, the e-auction web site says, it has the status of a cultural and historical heritage site. It is being sold to pay off the debts of the current owner, the Zhilstroykomplekt company.
Read a history of the synagogue on JewishGen
Read a description of the synagogue on Center for Jewish Art