The former Central Synagoge ("Zukerman Synagogue")
Jews settled in Mogilev in the first half of the 16th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population of Mogilev made up almost half of the city's inhabitants.
Jews played an important role in the economic, cultural and financial life of the city.
According to the census before World War II, Mogilev had 99,420 inhabitants, of whom 19,715 were Jews, with another 816 Jews living in the suburbs. By the beginning of 1940 there were about 3.5 million refugees from Poland in Mogilev.
There are several variants of the city name spelling - in German: Mahiljou, in Russian: Могилёв, in Belarusian: Магілеў.