Vilna Synagogue
From the late eighteenth century until the Shoah, Vilna (now the Lithuanian capital Vilnius) was one of the most important centres of Jewish civilization. It was a bastion of both the so-called misnagdim, the rabbinic opponents of Hasidism, and the maskilim, the adherents of a distinct Jewish brand of Enlightenment. The Choral Synagogue, designed by Daniel Rozenhauz (1871–1941) and inaugurated in 1903, served the maskilic community. Restored in 2010, it has since been used by the Jewish community again. Rozenhauz was one of the 40,000 Jews massacred by Einsatzgruppe B on the outskirts of the city in the woods of Ponary. It was this massacre that opened the eyes of many Jewish activists who subsequently took up arms against the Germans.
Postcard from the book: Jews in Old Postcards and Prints