During his official visit to Dnepropetrovsk, German Consul General in Donetsk Klaus Zillickens visited to the local Jewish community. After holding several meetings with government representatives and colleagues from other diplomatic missions, he asked Elena Karol, Second Secretary of the Israeli Embassy in Ukraine and Director of the Israeli Cultural Center in Dnepropetrovsk, to show him the Jewish community.
Consul General Zillickens was accompanied by Victoria Shcheglova, an expert on administrative and consular issues at the German consulate. Together, they visited the Golden Rose Synagogue and met with the leadership of the Jewish community, including its director Zelig Brez, chairman Gersh Korol and administrator Alexander Fridkis, as well as other communal workers. The guests learned about the history and current activity of the Jewish community, successes in the development of the cultural and religious revival, and Dnepropetrovsk’s leading role among Jewish communities in the post-Soviet age.
The guests then toured the construction of what will be the world's largest Jewish center, the Menorah Jewish Center. They listened to a presentation by the developer of this concept and construction manager Gennady Axelrod. It was obvious that the guests were impressed with and appreciated what they heard.
After inspecting the construction, the conference hall hosted a lively discussion on a wide range of topical issues. The German diplomat shared his impressions of his meeting with Dnepropetrovsk Region Governor Alexander Vilkul and Dnepropetrovsk Mayor Ivan Kulichenko, and talked about plans to officially open a representative office of the Federal Republic of Germany in Dnepropetrovsk. Particular attention was paid to cooperation within the framework of preparations for a future exhibition at the Museum of History of Jewish communities and the Holocaust, as well as the approaching March 2011 visit of a delegation of German businessmen to Kiev.
The Jewish community of Dnepropetrovsk is a leading member of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine.