The Jewish Harbin

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The Jewish Harbin
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• The city of Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang
  province in northern Manchuria, northeast China.
• Harbin is originally a Manchu word meaning "a
  place for drying fishing nets". Harbin bears the
  nicknames "The Pearl on the swan's neck" because
  the shape of Heilongjiang resembles a swan, and
  "Oriental Moscow" or "Oriental Paris" for the
  architecture in the city. Harbin is also known as
  "Ice City" for its long and cold winter. This
  city is most famous for its beautiful display of
  ice sculptures in the winter.
• Wikipedia

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• Harbin once had the largest Jewish population in
  the Far East. In the late 19th and early 20th
  century, it was the largest political, economic
  and cultural centre for the Jewish people in the
  region.
• The first Jews arrived to Harbin from Russia and
  Eastern Europe in 1898, with the beginning of the
  construction of the trans-Siberian railway
  linking Moscow and Beijing. After the 1917
  Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, increasing
  numbers of Jews migrated to Harbin. At its peak
  the community, which usually numbered 10,000
  inhabitants, reached 25,000 people.

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• After World War II, the Jews of Harbin gradually
  scattered to Shanghai, Israel and other
  countries. In 1963 the Jewish institutions in the
  city were officially closed down. In 1985 the
  last Jew in Harbin died.

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Original synagogue
The Main Synagogue in Harbin (also called the
Old Church) Its foundation was laid on May 3,
1907 and completed in January 1909
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Main synagogue of Harbin
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reflection
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The new Jewish synagogue in Harbin construction
started in 1916 and finished in 1921, and is now
Harbin Jewish History and Culture Exhibition
Hall
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• Once the largest synagogue in Northeast China,
  covering an area of more than 1,230 square metres
  and being able to accommodate up to 800
  worshipers, it has not been used since the Jewish
  people left the city in the 1950s.
• Built in 1921, the synagogue was not only an
  important place of religious observance and
  community education for Harbin's Jews, but was
  also a public library

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The entrance to the Exhibition of Harbin Jewish
History and Culture features a sculpture of a
large Menorah, a candlestick with seven candles.
On the walls there are two relief sculptures
depicting the migration routes of the Jews. The
synagogue itself is full of intricate Jewish
architecture with the Star of David on prominent
display.
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• A film on the Holocaust, with Chinese
  subtitles, is screened on a large television
  screen at the foyer.
• The synagogue itself is full of intricate
  Jewish architecture with the Star of David on
  prominent display.

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• The building's two floors are filled with large
  black and white pictures documenting Jewish life
  in the city the soup kitchen, the Beitar youth
  movement, the women's welfare organization, shops
  and plants, the library, the orchestra, Jewish
  singers, Jewish athletes, The Jew of World
  Famous as they call them.

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• The Harbin Huang Shan Jewish Cemetery, located in
  the city's suburbs, is the largest and the
  best-preserved cemetery in the Far East.

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• The cemetery, with about 600 tombstones engraved
  in Russian and Yiddish, was built in 1903 in the
  city center and was transferred outside the city
  in 1958. In 1992, after the establishment of
  relations between Israel and China, it was
  renovated.

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• Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, paid
  respects to his grandfather who is buried in the
  cemetery.
• He left a stone on the tomb of his grandfather
  Joseph Olmert, who died in Harbin in 1941.

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Dec-08

• Source
• - Harbin's Jews Isle of calm for embattled
  nation
• By Shiri Lev Ari
• - The Jews of Harbin
• Dr. Irena Vladimirsky
• www.bh.org.il/Communities/Archive/Harbin
• Wikipedia
• Photos Charles B.