The salvation of the synagogue in Pacov has already cost millions of crowns, and this year it continues

Pacov - The restoration of the Pacov synagogue has already cost around five million crowns. This year, the Tikkun association, which has owned the synagogue since 2018, intends to complete the repair of the southern wall, into which replicas of the original windows will be embedded. The repairs are funded by the association from donations and grants. A public collection has also been announced. After the completion of the repairs, there will be a museum in the synagogue commemorating the Pacov residents who fell victim to the Holocaust. The association also plans to renovate the rabbi's house, which it has owned since 2020. This was stated by the chairman of the association, Pavel Tychtl.

"We want to connect the synagogue and the rabbi's house into a single museum complex. Pacov also has a well-preserved and maintained Jewish cemetery. One could say that Pacov is like a small Třebíč. It is of course a smaller town, but as one of the few Czech towns in the area, it has preserved all the basic Jewish monuments, which is quite exceptional," Tychtl said. The Jewish town of Třebíč with its cemetery is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

According to Tychtl, no building plans for the Pacov synagogue have survived. "But we estimate based on secondary sources that it was built in 1823, when there was an increase in the number of (members of) the Jewish community in Pacov," Tychtl said. By the end of the 19th century, the Jewish community in Pacov numbered 200 people, but gradually diminished.

In 1942, the Nazis deported 98 people from Pacov to concentration camps; only six returned. "They then scattered all over the world, only one of them remained in Pacov, more or less by chance. He wanted to go to Israel, but he was unsuccessful," Tychtl said.

Of the people who returned from concentration camps, only Nelly Guttmann, the daughter of the last rabbi of Pacov, survived the current restoration of the synagogue. She was born in 1926 and has lived in Israel since 1948. She last visited Pacov in 2017. "She still writes to us and is looking forward to it being repaired," Tychtl said.

The Pacov synagogue served for several decades after its construction until it burned down. It was restored in 1864. The goal of the