The 677-year-old Maastricht Synagogue, the second oldest in Europe, which was looted and partially destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, was returned to the surviving Jewish community here today, completely restored at the expense of the municipality.
During the occupation, the Nazis removed from the synagogue 500 liturgical objects made of copper, silver and gold, wrecked the Ark and inflicted structural damage on the building. The synagogue and religious objects have now been restored in every detail. The Maastricht Synagogue was completed in 1290. It is exceeded in age only by the Old-New Synagogue in Prague, Czechoslovakia, which was built in the early part of the 13th Century. But the remnants of the historic Jewish community here is small.
Also but a fraction of its former size is the Jewish community of Edam, where a monument was unveiled today in memory of the Jews who were deported by the Nazis during the occupation.
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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.
