Aach Jewish community
A Jewish community in Aach , a local community in the Trier-Saarburg district ( Rhineland-Palatinate ), already existed in the Middle Ages .
history
Jews were first mentioned in Aach in 1418 , because Jews expelled from the Electorate of Trier settled there. Although the village is close to Trier , it did not belong to the Electorate of Trier, but rather to the Trier Benedictine Monastery of St. Irminen, which allowed Jews to settle in the village.
The modern Jewish community emerged in the 18th century. For some time the Jewish residents living in Butzweiler also belonged to the community in Aach. In the second half of the 19th century the number of parishioners declined due to emigration and emigration, as everywhere in the country.
The Jewish community had a religious school and a ritual bath ( mikveh ). The employed religion teacher was also active as a prayer leader and schochet .
The Jews in Aach lived mainly from the cattle trade and from trading in furs, hides and honeycombs. There were also Jewish artisans, an inn and a grocery store owned by Jewish families.
Prayer room and synagogue
At first there was a prayer room or a first synagogue, because in 1808 it is reported that the Jews from Butzweiler and Welschbillig attended the service in Aach. Due to the increased number of parishioners in the middle of the 19th century, the parish planned a new synagogue. The Trier architect Christian Wilhelm Schmidt , who also built the synagogue in Trier , was commissioned with the planning. The synagogue at Neweler Straße 2, built in 1860, is very similar to the synagogue in Trier. Neo- Romanesque style elements such as pilaster strips , arched windows and arched friezes characterize the building to this day.
The interior was completely destroyed during the November pogrom in 1938. The synagogue, which was set on fire, was extinguished to protect the neighboring houses. During the Second World War , the synagogue was used by the Wehrmacht as a prisoner of war camp.
In the 1950s the synagogue building was converted into a residential building. A memorial plaque was attached to the building, which has been a listed building since 1995 .
Community development
| year | Parishioners |
|---|---|
| 1795 | 3 families |
| 1808 | 57 people, about 21% of the population |
| 1828 | 68 people, about 20% of the population |
| 1855 | 85 people |
| 1900 | 14 families |
| 1933 | 38 people, 7.8% of the population |
| 1937 | 15 people |
National Socialist Persecution
Some families were able to emigrate during the National Socialist era . During the November pogrom in 1938 , the Jewish houses were demolished and the synagogue desecrated. With the deportations in 1942 and 1943, the last Jewish citizens living in Aach were deported to the extermination camps.
The memorial book of the Federal Archives lists 28 Jewish citizens born in Aach who fell victim to the genocide of the National Socialist regime .
graveyard
The Jewish cemetery in Aach is located at the exit of the village in the direction of Trier, immediately on the right of the road. It is not known when the Jewish cemetery was established. In 1930 it was expanded again and, during the Nazi era, in 1942, it was desecrated by members of the Hitler Youth . During the Second World War , all tombstones ( mazewot ) were destroyed and the cemetery cleared.
A single gravestone that was put up again after 1945 is that of Samuel Levy and his son Adolf Levy, who died in World War I.
After 1945 a memorial with the names of those buried in the cemetery was erected.
literature
- Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. 3 volumes. Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08035-2 . ( Online version )
- Stefan Fischbach, Ingrid Westerhoff: "... and this is the gate of heaven". Synagogues in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . Published by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate , State Conservatory Office of the Saarland, Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem. Verlag Philipp von Zabern , Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3313-7 , ( Memorial Book of Synagogues in Germany 2), pp. 67–68.
- Willi Körtels : The Jewish school in the Trier region . Ed. Förderverein Synagoge Könen eV, Konz 2011 ( online edition ; PDF; 5.3 MB)
Web links
- Entry on the former synagogue in Aach in the database " KuLaDig " of the Rhineland Regional Association
- Information on the Jewish community of Aach at Alemannia Judaica
- Entry on the former synagogue - memorial plaque in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region .