For a century, the city of Mulhouse, in eastern France, was best known for its role in a sad part of Jewish history. It is the birthplace of Alfred Dreyfus, the assimilated French Jewish soldier who was the victim of anti-Semitism.
This week, the Jewish community of Mulhouse made the news in a better fashion — the Grand Synagogue, damaged in a fire two years ago, was rededicated.
Participants in the ceremony included France’s Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim and Interior Minister Manuel Valls.
The Neoclassical building, a historical monument, was damaged during World War II, but restored for worship services after Liberation.
Mulhouse, whose Jewish community numbered about 2,000 in 1970, now is home to a few hundred Jews.
