) is a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

located on

Poklonnaya Hill Poklonnaya Gora (russian: Покло́нная гора́, literally "bow-down hill"; metaphorically "Worshipful Submission Hill"') is, at 171.5 meters, one of the highest natural spots in Moscow. Its two summits used to be separated by the Setun ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. It was built in 1998 to complement an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

church and a mosque that are also part of the outdoor museum dedicated to Russia's victory in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

The building of the Temple of the Memory on Poklonnaya Gora, a flat hill in the West of Moscow, between the

Setun River The Setun () is a river in the west of Moscow and the largest tributary of the Moskva in Moscow. The length of the river is , of which is in Moscow itself. Its basin has an area of .Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

's presence. The construction of the Temple of Memory was financed by the

Russian Jewish Congress The Russian Jewish Congress is a non-profit charitable fund and Russian Jewish organization. It was established in 1996 by a group of Jewish businessmen, workers and religious figures with the goal of reviving Jewish life in Russia. It unites som ...

- a non-profit charitable fund and the largest secular organisation of Russian Jews. The Temple of memory architect was Moshe Zarhy (Zarhy Architects) from Israel. In the Holocaust Memorial Synagogue there is a hall with a balcony, the offices for the rabbi and a library. An exhibition about history of the Jewish people and the Holocaust was located in the building. The building is also used as a museum. The interior of the building was designed by

Frank Meisler Frank Meisler (30 December 1925 – 24 March 2018) was an Israeli architect and sculptor. Meisler was born in the Free City of Danzig and grew up in England, before moving to Israel in 1956. In 1953 he married Batya (Phillis) Hochman with whom h ...

, too. Meisler created wall sculptures showing Jerusalem, the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the Five Books of Moses.

Dedication and exhibitions

The synagogue is the only one of its kind in the Russian Federation. The permanent exhibition in the building's premises shows everyday objects from Jewish life, some dating back to the time of the first Jews in Russia, and thus testifies to the Jewish contribution to the cultural and economic development of Russia. The tragic side of Jewish history is also part of the exhibition, which is not just about the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

: in pre-revolutionary Russia, over 400 laws and ordinances were in force that restricted the rights of Jews, especially in the areas of work, settlement, culture, education and practice of religious traditions. A significant part of the exhibition is dedicated to the history of the Holocaust. On display are mainly objects and documents that testify to the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

and the fate of the

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

inhabitants and the

death camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

. In addition, the history of the

Jewish partisans Jewish partisans were fighters in irregular military groups participating in the Jewish resistance movement against Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. A number of Jewish partisan groups operated across Nazi-occupied Euro ...

and the Jewish heroes of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

is documented in the synagogue. A separate section of the exhibition is dedicated to Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians who helped Jews in the occupied territories (and were subsequently honored as

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

). The Memorial Synagogue Museum offers excursions, lectures and film screenings about the lives of Jews in Russia and about the Holocaust. In addition to documenting Jewish history in Russia, the explicit goal is to promote tolerance and awareness of history. There is close cooperation in this area with the Russian Research and Education Center "Holocaust".

External links

Poklonnaya Hill Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holocaust Memorial Synagogue Synagogues in Moscow Synagogues completed in 1998 1998 establishments in Russia Orthodox synagogues in Russia Holocaust memorials

History

Dedication and exhibitions

See also

External links