Name of synagogue: TEMPLUL MESERIAȘILOR (CRAFTSMEN’S TEMPLE)

Street address 7 -11 DORNEI ST.; coordinates (longitude/latitude): 28.05172700/ 45.43644300

City and postcode GALAȚI, 800123

Website of Jewish community or synagogue (if they have one) https://sites.google.com/site/cegalati/

Website of Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania www.jewishfed.ro

Contacts

Contact at Jewish community (president) BLUMER SORIN

Street address of Jewish community: 7 -11 DORNEI ST., GALAȚI

Telephone number: 0236.413.662 and email: jgalatz@gmail.com

Street address of Jewish cemetery

(1) 82 Vegetalelor St.

Condition of the cemetery? – Very bad (abandoned)

(2) 34 Ștefan cel Mare St.

Condition of the cemetery? -

Synagogue facts—you will not find all the answers, but it’s important to ask

When was it built? 1896 (1875 in some sources).

Year(s) when it was remodeled or expanded? 1929.

Name of architect(s) – Unknown to us

Other synagogues that this architect built – Uknown to us

Is it known who designed the brass candelabras etc? – N/A

Is it known who was the artist who painted on the walls? – N/A

How would you describe the condition? Very good (repaired recently)

Jewish statistics

How many Jews lived in this city before the Holocaust? In 1930, there were 19,912 out of a total population of 99,605 (representing 20% of the city’s population).

What was its peak year of Jewish population? 1930.

How many synagogues were in the city then? In 1938 - 1940 there were 28 synagogues.

How many now? 1.

Are the others used as synagogues? – N/A

If not, what are they used for? – N/A

If possible, give their addresses. N/A

Holocaust related

What was the fate of the Jews of this city during the Holocaust?

After Romania entered WW II on 22 June 1941, Jewish men aged 18 to 60 were arrested and imprisoned; they were eventually transferred to several camps within the city of Galați and forced to perform hard labor. The number of Jews in Galați dropped from 13,511 in 1941 to 12,946 in 1942. When Romania joined the Allies’ side in the war on 23 August 1944, German soldiers set the town on fire, and several synagogues were destroyed.

How many were murdered? The vest majority.

How many were living in the city from 1945 – 1948? In 1947 there were approximately 15,000 Jews living in Galați.

How many emigrated? In 1969, there were approximately 2,000 Jews left.

How many live there today? 241, in 2003.

What are the social services for Jews in the city, if any? – N/A

Sources:

Congresul Mondial Evreesc. Secțiunea din România, Populația Evreească in cifre. Memento statistic (Bucharest, 1945): 46

FCER, Memoria cimitirelor evreiești (Bucharest, 2007): 42

Osy Lazăr and Solomon Weinberg, “Din istoria comunității evreilor din Galați,” in Studia et Acta Historiae Iudaeorum Romaniae 6 (2001): 11–27

Arh. Aristide Streja, Arh. Lucian Schwartz, Sinagogi din Romania (Bucharest, 1996: 85)

http://lacasedecult.cimec.ro/RO/Documente/asp/detaliu.asp?k=32802-1

http://www.jewish-romania.ro/monumente.php

www.jewishfed.ro

The Romanian Synagogue Documentation Project

Underwritten by the David Berg Foundation

Grant recipient: Centropa, Vienna, Edward Serotta, Director,

Organizing Partner: The Center for Hebrew Studies and the Goldstein Goren

Center for Israel Studies, University of Bucharest, Felicia Waldman, Coordinator

Researcher: Anca Tudorancea, Center for the Study of the History of Romanian Jews

Photography: Daniel Gruenfeld, Oliver Beck Assistant

Web coordinator: Dragos Parasca