Romania issues stamp for shul’s 130th anniversary

JTA — Romania has issued a postage stamp marking the 130th anniversary of the Great Temple of Radauti in the country’s north.

Romfilatelia, the Romanian philately company, announced the introduction of the stamp ahead of Aug. 18, the anniversary of the synagogue’s 1883 inauguration in honor of Franz Joseph I, the Austro-Hungarian emperor who ruled the area of Radauti, or Radautz in German.

Radauti had more than 4,700 Jews who made up 35 percent of the total population in 1941, the year local Romanians staged a pogrom, according to the Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Romania.

Many of them were killed, along with 380,000 to 400,000 Jews who were murdered in Romanian-controlled areas during the Holocaust, according to Yad Vashem. The country currently has a Jewish population of a few thousand people, according to the European Jewish Congress.

The synagogue is a massive building constructed in Moorish style with two tall, domed towers reminiscent of an Orthodox cathedral, and features three arches at the entrance supported by four columns.

The postage stamps show a picture of the building and a Star of David and a menorah.