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NEW YORK - Once pillars of Jewish life in Europe, hundreds of synagogues across the Old Continent had been destroyed in the period around World War II. Now, in New York City, the Museum at Eldridge Street, a landmark synagogue itself, has decided to bring them back to life in an exhibition running through September 8.
The exhibit, "The Lost Synagogues of Europe," features a collection of 156 postcards depicting shuls in Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and other countries.
The images, reproduced for the display, date from the last years of the 19th century through just before the start of WWII.
"Postcards are very eloquent little things," Nancy Johnson, the museum's archivist, told The Jerusalem Post, walking through the narrow exhibit. "They really tell you a lot about a time and a place."
Organized geographically, the cards, which belong to Prague native Frantisek Banyai, reflect the vibrancy of the Jewish communities represented and show much diversity of synagogue design. Depending on the time and place in which they were built, they range from humble wooden structures to grand synagogues.
Other postcards show life in the communities that existed around these synagogues including families on their way to worship; men praying; ghetto streets crowded with shoppers; and greeting cards for the Jewish holidays.
Of the 156 synagogues represented in the postcards, only 57 still stand today. And of them, only 14, like the opulent Jubilee Synagogue in Prague, are still Jewish...