Сlosure and repurposing of synagogues in Ukraine during the 1920s as an instrument of soviet anti-religious policy

<jats:p>The relevance of this study lies in the need for a more comprehensive examination of Soviet policy toward Jewish religious communities in Ukraine during the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Despite a certain liberalization of state-confessional relations in the 1920s, it was precisely during this period that mechanisms for the administrative displacement of religious institutions from public life were established, one manifestation of which was the closure and repurposing of synagogues. In this context, particular attention should be paid to the implementation of anti-religious policy at the local level, the decision-making mechanisms employed by Soviet authorities, the responses of Jewish religious communities, and the methods used to legitimize these measures. The purpose of the article is to examine Soviet policy regarding the closure and repurposing of synagogues in Ukraine during the 1920s, to identify the principal mechanisms of its implementation, to analyze the interaction between central and local authorities and Jewish religious communities, and to determine the rationale employed to justify the liquidation of religious buildings. Scientific novelty. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the administrative and legal mechanisms used to close synagogues in Ukraine throughout the 1920s. Drawing upon a wide range of archival documents, many of which are introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time, the study examines the activities of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR, the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, district executive committees, and local authorities in confiscating religious buildings from Jewish religious communities. The research identifies characteristic methods of legitimizing anti-religious policy through references to the cultural and educational needs of the population, shortages of public premises, and orchestrated campaigns designed to demonstrate the allegedly voluntary support of the "working people" for the closure of synagogues. Conclusions. The study demonstrates that during the 1920s Soviet authorities gradually shifted from the predominantly selective closure of so-called house synagogues to the systematic confiscation of buildings belonging to Jewish religious communities. Despite the temporary relaxation of state-confessional policy during the NEP, state authorities consistently refused to return synagogues to believers even when legal grounds existed, justifying their decisions by the municipalization of property, the small size of religious communities, or the need to use the buildings for cultural and educational purposes. It has been established that the closure of synagogues was accompanied by the active use of propaganda mechanisms intended to present these decisions as expressions of public initiative and social necessity. By the end of the 1920s, an administrative model governing relations between the Soviet state and Jewish religious communities had been established, laying the groundwork for the large-scale anti-religious campaigns of the 1930s. Keywords: Soviet government, anti-religious policy, Judaism, Jews, religious communities, synagogues, state-confessional relations, Ukraine, 1920s.</jats:p>