There are 10,000 Jews in Riga, capital of Soviet Lithuania, and 30,000 in Lvov, Soviet Galicia, compared with pre-war Jewish populations of 50,000 and 100,000, most of them slaughtered by the Nazis, the New York Times reported in a dispatch from Moscow.
The two cities, reopened recently after being closed to western correspondents since they were occupied by the Red Army, were visited by a Times correspondent, who wrote that the death of religion in the Soviet satellite empire was nowhere portrayed “so graphically as in the single synagogues that now serve the once important Jewish communities of Riga and Lvov.”
The Jews now in the two cities have moved in from other parts of Russian-controlled territory, he established, The correspondent reported that 30 to 40 elderly men were “the only ones who carry on the daily religious rituals.” Only on high holy days every autumn are there more than a thousand worshippers in each city, he said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
