GREAT SYNAGOGUE, BUCHAREST

Prior to the Second World War there were about 98,000 Jews in Bucharest. They prayed in as many as 40 synagogues, studied in 20 schools, got buried in two cemeteries and had various social and cultural agencies. During the war, the Jews of Bucharest were exposed to atrocities such as the infamous Abattoir Pogrom, in 1941. However, Bucharest Jews were not deported and Jewish refugees continued to stream into the capital. At the end of the war Bucharest's Jewish population was in excess of 150,000. The overwhelming majority emigrated to Israel. 

Today there are about 4,000 Jews in Bucharest. There are two functioning synagogues: the Great Synagogue, erected in 1845, and the 19th century Holy Union Synagogue. Both have small museums.