The history of Jews in Kaliningrad (formerly Koeningsberg) began in 1508, when two Jewish doctors received a permit to settle in the city.

Koeningsberg was famous as a center of Jewish enlightment and as the home of Rabbi Israel Salanter, founder of the Mussar movement.

Before Nazis captured the city, the Jewish community of Kaliningrad had five synagogues, an orphanage, an old-age home, three Jewish cemeteries, and many Jewish organizations: religious, charitable, cultural and Zionist.

When the Nazis prohibited education for Jewish children in Germany, a Jewish school opened in Koeningsberg in 1935. It operated until the summer of 1942. On October 9, 1938, Nazis burnt and destroyed the synagogues, orphanage and old-age home in the city. more