The Independent 17 may 2007 ã.

Estonia opens synagogue for first time since Nazi era

Estonia’s last synagogue was wiped out in 1944, amid fierce gunfire and overhead air raids, as Nazi troops fled the Red Army’s advance. But yesterday, after a six-decade wait, the country’s 3,000-strong Jewish population finally donned prayer shawls and clutched siddurs, as the first synagogue since the Holocaust opened in Tallinn.

Construction of the $2m (£1m) ultra-modern design began in 2005. Jewish rules on synagogue construction, including rigid building requirements, made the project demanding. Then came the agonising task of tracking down a practising rabbi. Estonia’s last one was killed during the Holocaust. “For a long time it was not possible to practise Jewish life in Estonia … there was no rabbi, no kosher food, no possibility to learn about Judaism,” the synagogue’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kot said.

Yesterday, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres presided over the opening ceremony at the new, 180-seat synagogue. “You can burn down a building, but you cannot burn down a prayer. And we are a praying people,” said Mr Peres, as Torah scrolls were brought inside amid celebrations and dancing.

Before the Second World War, there were about 5,000 Jews enjoying cultural autonomy in the country. In 1940, the Soviet occupation of Estonia led to the deportation of hundreds. As war intensified, many fled to the former Soviet Union. Of those that remained, almost all were slaughtered during the Holocaust. It is believed that fewer than 20 survived. Estonia was the only country in Europe to be declared “free of Jews” by the Nazis. Until yesterday, it was also the only country in Europe not to have a synagogue.

According to the Torah, orthodox Jews are expected to pray several times a day. Although prayers can be said anywhere, members of the Jewish community come together in synagogues on the Sabbath and religious holidays. Until now, Tallinn’s Jewish community have been conducting prayer ceremonies in a small, makeshift empty building, travelling to synagogues in neighbouring Latvia or Russia on occasions of religious significance.

But forging relations between Estonia and Russia’s Jewish communities has not been easy. Some of those who escaped Estonia during the Holocaust later helped defeat the Nazis as soldiers with the former Soviet Union. Earlier this year, the relocation of a Soviet war memorial from Tallinn’s central square had been a contentious issue for the Jewish community.

An unknown number of Jews were killed in concentration camps in Estonia during the Second World War. Since the country gained independence in 1991, it has convicted 11 people of Soviet- era war crimes, but has not prosecuted anyone for involvement in Nazi-led crimes.

But for now, at least, Estonia’s Jewish community is finally looking forward, not back. As people streamed through the double doors yesterday, Rabbi Kot cut the ribbon of an adjacent restau-rant serving kosher food. There will also be an education centre to inform the public about Estonia’s Jewish history. “People will now have the possibility to feel as a Jew,” Rabbi Kot said.