The government of Belarus announced plans to renovate one of the country’s oldest synagogues and turn it into a Jewish museum
The museum will be housed this year inside the restored ruins of the main synagogue in Bykhaw
a town located some 150 miles east of Minsk
square building with three arched windows in each façade and a tower in one of its corners
is part of Bykhovsky Castle – a fortress in the east of the country
The restoration of the 17th century synagogue and the museum’s establishment is part of a $1 million renovation project of the castle complex initiated this year
Only several thousand members of Belarus’ Jewish population of one million survived the Holocaust
Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority
Bykhaw’s 1939 population census lists 2,295 Jews
Only a small fraction of the town’s Jews succeeded in fleeing the Nazis
The Jews of Bykhov were murdered in two mass-murder operations in September 1941 and November 1941
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