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Article: Estonia Breaks Ground on New Synagogue
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- January 21, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Associated Press. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Associated Press. (Hide copyright information)
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JARI TANNER, Associated Press Writer
AP Online
01-21-2005
Dateline: TALLINN, Estonia
Estonia's Jewish community broke ground Thursday on a new synagogue to replace the house of worship destroyed by bombing in World War II.
More than 4,300 Jews lived in the Baltic state before the war, but the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940 led to the abrupt end of Jewish cultural autonomy and hundreds of Jews were deported.
Hundreds more were sent to concentration camps when the Nazis invaded in 1941.
Now, some 3,000 Jews live in Estonia, most of them in the capital, Tallinn, and others in the towns of Kohtla-Jarve, Narva and Tartu.
"It will be a synagogue for all Jews living in Estonia," Cilja Laud, a ...