JewishGen KehilaLinks Logo

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

Vestiges of Jewish Life in Shklov -- Former Synagogue Buildings

While the population of Shklov was once almost 90% Jewish, emigration around the turn of the century and the destruction of the Holocaust has wiped out what was once a robust and thriving Jewish community.   What remains as testimony to Shklov's Jewish past are only a few aging vestiges of this historical heritage past -- an abandoned building that was once a synagogue, and former synagogue buildings that have now been adapted to other uses.    At the turn of the century (1900) there were more than ten synagogues and prayer houses in Shklov.    Now the sounds of Jewish prayer has vanished from Shklov.   Click on the link in the left column of the table below for more information and additional photos of the indicated site. 






Former Synagogue Building at Communist Street 106



Old Synagogue
              Building at Communist Street 106
This abandoned building standing at Communist Sreet 106 was formerly one of Shklov's Synagogues.   Built towards the end of the 19th century, and used as a synagogue until World War II, in the period after the war in the 1950's-60's this building was used as a veterinary laboratory.    According to a local historian, during that period Jews used to gather for secret worship in this building, as the Chief Veterinary Doctor at that time was Jewish, and used to permit the Jewish Community to use the synagogue secretly.   Now it stands abandoned, a tragic testimony to a population that once was, and now is gone.    It is currently privately owned, reported changed hands about a year ago, the new owner rebuilt the ceiling, but has done nothing else and the building remains forlorn.  



Former Synagogue Building with Flying Buttresses at 99 Dikuna Street

Synagogue 17th
                Century with Flying Butresses The old synagogue building with flying butresses located at 99 Dikuna Street, near the edge of town, is the oldest building in Shklov.   Its old bricks are from the period of the Great Lithuanian Kingdom (Veliki Knyajestvo Litovski).    The building served as a synagogue until the Revolution, and then was shut down.   After World War II it housed a school.   The building is currently used as an Auto School.   The side building that was once a Jewish School (Cheder) is now a tool shop.   This building is on the State List of Historical-Cultural Treasures of Belarus.   




Former Synagogue Building Currently a Dairy Factory on Internatsionalnaya 64

Main Syngogue
                Building now Dairy Factory The green building with yellow columns was once Shklov's main synagogue.   Built at the end of the 18th century, this building once housed the great Choral Synagogue of Shklov.   Reportedly, there was also a Jewish School in the building in the 1930's.   Now it is used by a dairy factory which produces milk, sour cream, and yoghurt, etc.    




The Rabbi's House at the corner of Internatsionalnaya and Pochtovaya
Crosses and
              Coffins for Sale in the Rabbi's House
In an ironic turn of events, the building that was once the Rabbi's home now houses a shop selling funeral supplies, such as coffins and memorial floral arrangements for decorating gravesites.    Orthodox crosses are for sale, and a picture of Jesus adorns the wall.

Though current residents of Shklov refer to this building as "the Rabbi's House," according to information in the Minsk Jewish Museum, this building was a synagogue build in the end of the 19th century.   The author of this website thus presumes that following the closure of the synagogue in the Soviet period, the Rabbi continued to dwell in this building.   We were told by a Shklov resident that during WWII, the Germans set up headquarters in this building and used the basement as a prison for Russian prisoners of war.     









If you have additional information about Shklov to share
or other comments or questions, please contact Daria Fane


This site is hosted at no cost by JewishGen, Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy. If you have been aided in your research by this site
and wish to further our mission of preserving our history for future generations, your JewishGen-erosity is greatly appreciated.

Copyright 2013 Daria Fane