Synagogue, Jewish museum to be part of replica Polish town

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – A synagogue with a Jewish museum will be part of a replicated Polish town being built in Bilgoraj.

The complex in southeastern Poland will replicate a typical borderland town from the late 19th or early 20th century with old streets and houses. It is expected to be completed in 2014.

The foundation stone of the synagogue building, which will house a museum of the Bilgoraj Jewish community, was laid in recent days by Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.

A Jewish market and the houses of the Jewish community, as well as a house with a museum about the life of Isaac Bashevis Singer, will be part of the replicated town. Singer spent several years in Bilgoraj.

Jews comprised 50 percent of the Bilgoraj population in the early 20th century. Some escaped to Russia during World War II. The rest were forced to live in the ghetto and then were murdered in the Nazis’ Belzec camp.

The idea came from a local entrepreneur Tadeusz Kuzminski, who is also a founder.