A special synagogue has been opened on the site of one of the largest massacres of Jews in World War II in Ukraine. The colorful wooden Jewish prayer house can be folded and unfolded with the help of a winch, like in a pop-up book. The building is part of a major commemoration project for the victims of the mass murder.
From mass slaughter in the ravine called Babi Yar began in late September 1941. German Nazi soldiers then murdered an estimated 34,000 Jewish men, women and children. In the months that followed, more than 100,000 people were killed. The massacre started the Holocaust in Ukraine, in which almost the entire Jewish population of the country, some 1.5 million people, was murdered.
Prayer book
According to the designers of the synagogue, the Swiss architectural firm Manuel Herz Architects, the fold-out building is reminiscent of a prayer book, a bible or a pop-up book, in which “new worlds are unfolded that we could not yet imagine”. The synagogue uses reclaimed oak from all over Ukraine, from trees “that remember the pre-Holocaust world”.
When unfolded, the building has a roof, a balcony and benches. The walls are decorated with prayers and blessings. Colorful symbols and icons are painted on the ceiling.
The opening of the monument coincided with the first day of remembrance for Ukrainians who saved Jews in World War II.
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