Polish Synagogue Sold to Israeli-Led Group for Museum and Hospitality Center
The Trzebinia property will be managed by a foundation being formed in Poland to handle restoration work and accept donations.
By Matthew Qureshi ·
A historic synagogue in Trzebinia, Poland changed hands Tuesday when an international group of partners acquired the property with plans to convert it into a Jewish museum and a hospitality center for visitors to graves in the adjacent cemetery. The building will be restored to Jewish use after years of standing unused.
The transfer followed a tender process opened by the municipality after the Jewish community of Katowice relinquished its right to reclaim the structure. A consortium of three parties then combined resources to purchase the site and prevent its conversion to a non-Jewish venue.
Meir Bulka, an Israeli figure known as the "Grave Hunter" who runs J-NERATIONS, led the acquisition alongside Jacek Purski, who directs the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalisation, and Marcin Majchrowicz, a Silesian businessman and philanthropist. Bulka said the synagogue sits "just a 40-minute drive from Kraków" and added, "This is not merely about saving a synagogue; it is also about taking responsibility for preserving the memory of an entire community."
Purski described the effort as recognition that Jewish life is "not only part of Poland's past, but also part of its present and future."
The Jewish presence in Trzebinia dates to at least the 1500s. An independent community formed in 1815 and peaked in 1921, when Jews comprised 23% of residents, and the city supported four synagogues, yeshivas, prayer houses and charitable organizations between the world wars. Rabbi Dov Berish Weidenfeld, called the Gaon of Tchebinas, and Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam, the second Rebbe of Bobov, served there, and several spiritual leaders are buried in the neighboring cemetery.
Deportations to concentration camps and ghettos, along with murders at Auschwitz, destroyed that community, and its properties were razed, leaving this synagogue as the sole structure attesting to the city's Jewish history. The partners plan to draw on historical records and archaeological evidence where possible to restore prewar appearances, and a Polish foundation is due to be established in coming days to run the project and accept donations and investments.
