Obj. ID: 54119
Memorials Memorial for the Great Synagouge (Beit Midrash) in Jaunjelgava, Latvia, 2023
To the main object: Great Beit Midrash in Jaunjelgava, Latvia
Memorial Name
No official name
Who/What is Commemorated?
The synagogue of Jaunjelgava.
Description:
The memorial is standing in front of the preserved but heavily reconstructed building of the synagogue.
The memorial is a stone pillar set in a square paved with small stones; a paved narrow path leads to it from the sidewalk of the street.
A marble plaque in the center of the pillar’s represents the only know pre-WWII photograph of the synagogue and inscription in Latvian, English, and Hebrew.
The town name is written on a marble slab that surmounts the pillar. The initials of the maker and the year 2022 appear on the side of the slab.
Inscription:
On the slab:
Jaunjelgava
V.S. 2022
On the plaque:
Lielā sinagoga
Great Synagogue
בית כנסת גדול
1859-1941
Šobrīd – dzīvojamā māja
Currently – residential house
כיום בית מגורים
Commissioned by
The Jewish Memorial Society of Jaunjelgava and the family of Urias Schatz.
sub-set tree: 
V.S. 2022
The Nazi German army occupied Jaunjelgava on 27 June 1941, and arrests of Jews started already at the beginning of July. The arrested persons were placed in two synagogues, including this one (Meler, p. 434). The majority of Jaunjelgava Jews were shot in the Beku Pine Forest: 65 Jews in July 1941, and 430 – in August 1941.
The memorial was built by the Jewish Memorial Society of Jaunjelgava and the family of Urias Schatz, a long-time city council member before WWII.
The memorial was unveiled on September 24, 2023. "The klezmer group "Mazel tov" led by Hirsh Kagan and the ladies' dance collective "Aviva" led by Dmitri Morderer performed at the opening of the memorial." (https://staburags.lv/ar-pieminas-zimi-godina-ebreju-tautas-vesturi-pie-kadreizejas-lielas-sinagogas-jaunjelgava-atklata-stela/)
Grincēviča, Ginta, "Ar piemiņas zīmi godina ebreju tautas vēsturi. Pie kādreizējās Lielās sinagogas Jaunjelgavā atklāta stēla," Staburags, September 24, 2023, p. 434., https://staburags.lv/ar-pieminas-zimi-godina-ebreju-tautas-vesturi-pie-kadreizejas-lielas-sinagogas-jaunjelgava-atklata-stela/ (accessed October 19, 2024)
Meler, Meyer, Mesta nashei pamiati: Evreiskie obshchiny Latvii, unichtozhennye v Kholokoste (Riga: by the author, 2010), p. 434.