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The ransacking of the great synagogue of LyonsOn June 14th 1944, the Militia burst into the great synagogue of Lyons. The militias arrested Emile Cahen, secretary of the Consistory, Benjamin Dreyfus, the cantor, his nephew, the porter Mr Eisner with his wife and the cleaning lady. Eugene Weill, then President of theLyons community was warned by the Great Rabbi Kaplan who was on the watch at a distance in order to warn anyone going to the Synagogue at Quai Tilsitt. All the people who were arrested on that day were deported. In his testimony composed on April 12th 1945, Eugene Weill testified that when he went to the Synagogue on September 2nd, day of the liberation of Lyons, he found the Synagogue in a terrible state, the temple room had been used as a drinking den by the militias, commemorative plaques of soldiers killed during the first world war had been damaged, as had the scrols of the Torah. Lamp sockets were on the floor, lights, chairs and benches had been wrecked and prayer books had been scattered. |
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