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City of Quebec Gives Up 15-year Fight to Prevent Construction and Use of New Synagogue

May 7, 1948
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An agreement by the Quebec City administration to revoke regulations intended to prevent the erection and use of a synagogue within the city limits has ended a 15-year-old case during which legal and illegal methods have been used by anti-Semitic forces in the community in an attempt to interfere with the religious life of the Jews, the Canadian Jewish Congress announced here today.

During the course of the dispute, unparalleled in Canadian Jewish history, enemies of the Jews forced passage through the municipal council of stoning laws to prohibit the building of the synagogue to replace a century-old temple. When this method failed and the structure was erected,” the municipality passed a law expropriating the land on which the building stood. In addition unidentified vandals stoned the synagogue and set fire to its interior.

The Congress, which led the fight to prevent the ousting of the Quebec Jews from their house of worship, campaigned throughout the country to arouse sentiment in favor of the Jewish cause. In a statement issued after the municipality’s decision to revoke its restrictive and illegal regulations, the Congress said “security of the synagogues is insured as a result of this important victory.”

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