The synagogue in Radauti, Romania was formally rededicated following its renovation with a ceremony on July 25 that involved the Mayor of Radauti as well as national and local religious and Jewish communal leaders. The ceremony was followed by a symposium on Jewish in Radauti and the opening of an exhibit on Jews in southern Bucovina.
According to the Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Romania, published in Israel in 1980, the synagogue was built in the early 1880s (though some information from the Romanian Jewish community has given the date as 1879) and was linked to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef — Radauti (Radautz) is in Bucovina, the easternmost province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Encyclopedia notes controversy over its architecture.
During the visit of the Emperor Franz Joseph I in Radautz in 1880, a delegation of Jews requested from him that they be given a proper plot of land to build a big synagogue due to the increased number of Jews in the town. The Emperor agreed and gave the Jewish community a large plot of land in the center of the town. Then a big argument broke out between the orthodox and more progressive Jews. The orthodox demanded that the synagogue be built in the more traditional mode of synagogues. The progressive demanded that the synagogue be a more modernistic one in the style of the great synagogue of Czernowitz, with a cathedral type round dome. Due to this argument the building of the synagogue was postponed for several years. At the end a compromise was reached and the synagogue was built in the style of the great synagogue of Czernowitz, but with one big difference, instead of a round dome, two twin towers were built. The stage where the Torah is read was located in the center of the synagogue. The women’s section was on the western gallery. The synagogue was inaugurated on the 18th of August 1883, the birthday of the Emperor Franz Joseph the first.
On his blog, Edgar Hauster has posted photographs and video from the rededication ceremony.
You can also see a longer video here
2 comments on “Synagogue in Radauti, Romania Rededicated after Renovation”
There is a holocaust memorial in Radauti, listing names of those who were victims. The last name ‘Sommer’ is on it. Can you tell me where to find it?
https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Romania/