Under
the banner of perestroika, a fundamental liberalization
took place in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. As a result
of these changes Jews were permitted to emigrate freely
and the authorities stopped hindering Jewish cultural and
religious activity and also contacts between Soviet Jews
and Jews in the West and in Israel. In 1989, after a fifty-year
interruption, the JDC resumed activity in the USSR and,
in 1991, on the eve of its disintegration, the Soviet Union
reestablished diplomatic relations with the State of Israel.
At the same time, Gorbachev took the first steps toward
a reconciliation between the state and the Russian Orthodox
Church. In 1987 the first sixteen churches were returned
to worshippers. In 1988 the Russian Patriarchate regained
another 500-700 former church buildings and in 1989 another
2,000. In September 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
passed a law “on freedom of conscience and religious
association.” According to this new legislation, the
state could no longer interfere in religious matters and
religious associations received the status of legal entities
so that they could own property. In this more liberal social
atmosphere the synagogue gained new opportunities.
The process of the return of synagogue buildings to their
legal owners began in Ukraine. In 1989 two synagogues in
Lvov were returned. In 1990 synagogues were returned in
Donetsk and Kherson. In the same year, Kharkov’s Choral
Synagogue, where a sports club had been located, was returned
to the Jewish community. A group of young Kharkov Jews,
who had joined the council of the local religious community,
played a decisive role in the regaining of the synagogue.
In their struggle they gained support of the American Orthodox
Union. At that time Cincinnati, Ohio and Kharkov became
sister-cities. This made it possible for the municipality
of Cincinnati, while promising aid in the form of medical
equipment to the mayor of Kharkov, to bring up the lack
of premises for the Jewish community in Kharkov. This linkage
may have also encouraged the municipal authorities of Kiev
to return a synagogue.
A
turning point was the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) out parts of the former Soviet Union. The presidents
of republics of the CIS (as well as of states that did not
joint the CIS) sought support from religious organizations,
especially Christian ones, whose popularity was increasing
at that time. Many people then believed that, with their
connections abroad the Jews also might help attract the
investment of foreign capital that was needed for the transition
to market economies. For this reason, leaders of CIS countries
began to make more or less definite promises to return property
that had been confiscated by the Soviet regime from religious
associations.
All this led to the establishment of a legal basis for the
restitution of religious buildings, including synagogues.
The Ukrainian law of April 23, 1991 “on freedom of
conscience and religious organizations” stipulated
that “religious buildings and property owned by the
state are to be returned to …religious organizations
or transferred to the latter for use without payment.”
As a follow-up to this law, on March 4, 1992, President
Leonid Kravchuk issued a decree that required the appropriate
bodies to carry out the transfer to religious associations
of religious buildings that were not being utilized for
their original purposes. A subsequent order of the President
gave local bodies the authority to implement this restitution
by December 1, 1997.
Similar legislation was also adopted in Russia. On April
23, 1993 President Boris Yeltsin issued an order “to
transfer to religious organizations religious buildings
and other property of a religious nature that was owned
by the Federation” and, on May 6, 1994, the Russian
government adopted a parallel resolution. This was followed,
on March 14, 1995, by a government resolution which stated
that especially valuable objects of a religious nature would
be handed over only “for use” and not transferred
as property.
In Belarus, the law “on the freedom of religion and
religious organizations,” adopted on December 17,
1992, permitted (but did not require) local authorities
to transfer church buildings to religious organizations
“as property or for free use… with the exception
of those which are being used for cultural purposes.”
The situation was more complicated in Moldova, where neither
the presidential edict of August 12, 1991 “on measures
to guarantee the development of Jewish national culture
and the satisfaction of the social requirements of the Jewish
population” nor the government resolution of December
9, 1991 on the implementation of the original edict promised
to return synagogues, but only promised to provide Jewish
organizations with premises for their activities.
In Azerbaijan, the law on religious freedom that was adopted
on August 20, 1992 stated that government institutions could
transfer buildings and other property for free use or ownership,
if these were to be used for religious education.
In Georgia Jewish leaders succeeded in receiving back synagogues
in Batumi (in 1992) and Akhaltsikhe (1995). However matters
became complicated by the fact that the Georgian Jewish
community had decreased sharply due to a large immigration
to Israel. For this reason some provincial synagogues (in
Kulashi, Sachkheri, and other places) which belonged to
Jewish communities were closed. In Tskhinvali the synagogue
was ultimately overtaken by Pentecostals.