The heritage left by Ashkenazi Jews, from Central and Eastern Europe, was marked at first by the relatively autonomous conditions in which they lived.

Two types of synagogues can be distinguished: those marked by the use of wood and those built in stone. The latter were especially found in imposed Jewish areas. Later, this heritage was greatly affected by Nazi and Soviet destruction.

One will nevertheless distinguish the Polish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak Jewish Heritage to that of for instance Ukraine or Russia.

Indeed, until the beginning of the 20th Century, the history of the Jews of Russia principally concerned territories which are no longer part of the Russian Federation such as Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Despite rare exceptions, the settling of Jews in Moscow and other big Russian cities was prohibited. Thus synagogues in Moscow and Saint Petersburg date from the 20th Century and are more recent that those in Poland or Hungary.

Synagogue of Riga, Latvia. Photo L.A.

Even if the Communities of these countries were severely affected by the Shoah, most synagogues and cemeteries were able to resist Nazi destruction. Instead, the Nazis concentrated around Prague an important part of the stolen heritage so as to create a museum of the "disappeared race".

Synagogue of Sofia, Bulgaria. Drawing Ivan Velikov

examples of ashkenazi heritage

There are numerous examples of Jewish heritage, nevertheless one will particularly note the famous gothic Synagogue of Prague which dates from the 14th Century or the Synagogue, Dohany street in Budapest, inspired by the Tempelgasse Synagogue of Vienna and the Salomon Temple.

Cemetery of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photo L.A.

Other than the heritage of buildings, Jews have left a significant heritage in the areas in which they lived in be it the Warsaw ghetto, the Rema Synagogue in Kazimierz, the Jewish cemeteries of Lithuania or one of the oldest cemeteries in Europe, that of Bitola in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. All of these elements constitute a richness and despite their deterioration and partial destruction are the witnesses of the legacy of the Jews to that region.