Vyborg Jewish Congregation

OUR HISTORY

​

The official history of Jews in Vyborg and throughout Finland can be considered to have begun in 1832. On May 18th of that year, a tinsmith named Jacob Weikaim was granted permission to remain in Viipuri with his family for the rest of his life, having already lived there since 1815.

The year 1888 is significant because it was then that "purges" of Jews were planned in Turku and, above all, in Viipuri. In September 1888, the heads of Jewish families were summoned to the police station for a detailed investigation: their grounds for residency, age, livelihood, family relations, family backgrounds, and former places of residence were checked and recorded. Following this, those questioned awaited a police statement and the Governor’s decision.

On October 15th, the heads of 34 families were summoned again to the police station to hear the Governor's ruling. In Vyborg, which at the time was home to 208 Jews (52 families), the Provincial Governor J.A. Gripenberg proposed the deportation of 125 people (34 families) within six months.

On March 29, 1889, the Senate published a new Jewish decree: this decree granted certain named families the right to remain in Finland—for the time being—in specific permitted locations: Helsinki, Turku, Hämeenlinna, Tampere, Vyborg (where 32 families were granted residence permits), Hamina, Sortavala, Suistamo or the parish of Impilahti, Kuopio, and Vaasa. From these locations, Jews were allowed to move only to Helsinki or Vyborg.

While Finland was under Russian rule, the Jews living in the country could not officially register their congregations, but congregational life was active nonetheless. In Vyborg, soldiers discharged from the Russian army had gradually built the foundation for congregational life. At that time, services were held in a room within the military barracks.

The Vyborg Synagogue was built in 1910 and renovated in 1930. The synagogue was designed by architect Gerhard Sohlberg. it has 250 seats: 144 for men and 106 for women. However, this was not the city's first synagogue; the first one had operated since 1861 in a wooden building near Punaisenlähteen tori (Red Well Square).