Ivenets. The Synagogue of 1912.

The town of Ivenets has been known since the 14th century. At first it belonged to Prince Vytautas. After the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1793, it became part of the Russian Empire. By order of the new authorities, all Jews migrated from rural areas to cities and towns.

Before the revolution, Ivenets had the status of a small town and half of the population here were Jews. In 1886, there were two Jewish schools, 35 small private benches, most of which belonged to Jews, and several synagogues and houses of worship. There was a Jewish school that existed on private money. The school worked in a private house and did not have a clear program.

Most of the local Jews were shot by the Nazis during the Nazi occupation. The Nazi invaders occupied Ivenets already on January 25, 1941. A ghetto was created, which the Nazis destroyed during the period autumn 1941-summer 1942. A monument has been erected at the site of the mass shooting of Jews.

On the outskirts of Ivenets, a wooden synagogue on Shkolnaya Street has been preserved to our time. It is believed that only a few wooden synagogues remain on the territory of Belarus.

The synagogue building is a rectangle in plan. It was built in 1912. After the Great Patriotic War, various social facilities were located in the premises. First there was a local cinema, and then a cultural center. In 2005, old murals were discovered in the building of the former synagogue. The building was handed over to a Jewish religious organization several years ago and it was planned to create a museum of the history and culture of the Jews of Western Belarus here. The renovation of the building began, but due to lack of funds, all work stopped.