Polish Radio reports that the president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, and his wife celebrated the first night of Hanukkah by lighting a candle in the Noֵ¼yk synagogue in Warsaw today.

It is the first visit of a president in active office to a synagogue since the Second World War. During the ceremony, which is being part organised by the Jewish community in Warsaw, prayers will be said for the 90th anniversary of Poland’s independence.

The AP reports that the Jewish community in Warsaw is calling this a historic step.

Most of Poland’s Jews were killed in the Holocaust and those who remained after World War II suffered from communist-era anti-Semitism. Jewish life has gradually been re-emerging since Poland shed communism in 1989.