A major symbol of Poland's thriving pre-World War II Jewish community has been restored with the re-opening of the famed Lublin synagogue.
Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich led hundreds of Jews Sunday in a joyful procession carrying the sacred religious scrolls into the building for the first time since the Nazi occupation.
Jewish leaders noted that this is the first time that Lublin's tiny Jewish community took on a major restoration project without any donations from abroad.
The synagogue is part of what once was the world's most famous rabinnical school.
Nazis shut down the school after the 1939 invasion. The communist government later turned it into a medical college.
Before World War II about 40,000 Jews lived in Lublin. Most were killed by the Nazis.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
