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Peitav Synagogue

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Peitav Synagogue
Peitav Synagogue

The Peitav Synagogue or Peitav-Shul (Latvian: Peitavas ielas sinagoga; Yiddish: פאייטאוו שול) is the only synagogue in Riga to have survived the Holocaust and to be currently active. It is a center of the Latvian Jewish community and recognized by the Latvian government as an architectural monument of national significance.The Synagogue was built 1903-1905, designed by architect Wilhelm Neumann in an art nouveau style. When Riga's synagogues were burned in 1941 by the Nazis and their Latvian collaborators, the Peitav Synagogue was the only one to survive because of its location in the Old Town, adjacent to other buildings. Subsequently, during World War II, the synagogue was used as a warehouse.Under Soviet rule, the Synagogue was one of the relatively few allowed to remain open in the Soviet Union. After Latvian independence was restored in 1991, the Synagogue was damaged by bombings in 1995 and 1998.A restoration of the Synagogue, partly funded by the European Union and by the Latvian government, was completed in 2009. The dedication ceremony was attended by Latvia's president Valdis Zatlers and prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis as well as by Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli-Yoel Edelstein.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Peitav Synagogue (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Peitav Synagogue
Peitavas iela, Riga Old Riga

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 56.945833333333 ° E 24.110555555556 °
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Peitavas iela 9/11
LV-1050 Riga, Old Riga
Vidzeme, Latvia
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Peitav Synagogue
Peitav Synagogue
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1998 Riga bombing

The 1998 Riga bombings were a series of bombings that took place in Riga, Latvia and which received considerable coverage at the time, most notably for their connection with fascist groups and the perception of an increase of fascism in Latvia. The United States government offered to help to locate the suspects, calling the acts "cowardly," and then-Latvian Prime Minister Guntars Krasts condemned the bombings, calling them an attempt to destabilize the country.At 1:50 am on April 2 a bomb exploded in Riga's old town outside the 92-year-old Peitav Synagogue, the only surviving working synagogue in the city, causing severe damage to the building and surrounding area. The bomb, which was supposedly planted by fascist extremists, was reportedly placed on the front steps of the synagogue building. The bomb caused extensive damage, including tearing out the 90 kg oak door, destroying all the windows and casings of the basement and first and second floors, and leaving deep gouges in the wall. There were no casualties. Four days after the April 2 bombing, another explosion caused damage to the Russian Embassy in Riga. As with the April 2 explosion, there were no injuries. The cause of the blast was plastic explosives detonated in a trash bin. The attack was linked with a rise in nationalist and extremist actions that seriously unsettled relations among Latvians, Jews and Russians. Alexander Udaltsev, Russia's ambassador to Latvia, joined Latvian leaders in blaming the incident on those trying to drive a wedge between Russians and Latvians. The Russian Foreign Ministry controversially blamed the bombing outside its Riga embassy on "anti-Russian hysteria recently produced in Latvia and the encouragement of nationalism and extremism" and called for drastic measures to punish those who were guilty. A few days after the Riga bombings, a monument to Latvian victims of the Holocaust was defaced in the port town of Liepāja.