Beckum Jewish Community

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The Beckum Jewish Community existed from the 17th century until it was annihilated by the Nazi persecution of the Jews in 1942. Its highest membership number was 111 in 1925.

history

The earliest evidence of Jewish residents in Beckum comes from the year 1343. As part of the plague pogroms of 1350, the Jews were probably expelled here, as in the rest of Westphalia.

It was not until August 25, 1550, in Münster for the Jew Simon von Herford, that a letter of safe conduct bears witness to Jewish life in Beckum. After the death of Prince-Bishop Franz von Waldeck, who pursued a Jewish-friendly policy, on June 27, 1553, the situation for the Jews in the bishopric of Münster deteriorated dramatically, with arrests and confiscations. The Beckum Jews were probably also affected by this, because it was not until 1590 that letters of safe conduct for Jews in Beckum were received again.

Since 1676, the continuous settlement of Jews in Beckum has been documented by tax lists. Up to 1720 there were a constant three Jewish families living in the city; in 1784 their number had risen to nine. In 1740, the six families living in Beckum at the time decided to build their own parish hall and prayer house on Nordstrasse. The actual founding of the community can be dated to the year 1743 with the completion of the first church.

The Prussian Jewish edict of 1812 , which only came into force in Beckum in 1821 after the end of the French occupation, legally equated the Jewish population with all others. The Jewish community could now develop freely. With the accession of the Jews from Herzfeld, Liesborn and Lippborg, their membership increased from 73 in 1835 to 100. The highest membership of 111 was reached in 1925. In 1865 the construction of a new community center with a school and a separate synagogue began. On July 12th and 13th, 1867, the inauguration of the buildings took place, which had been erected in the same place after the old one was demolished.

The destruction of the Jewish community

In the year the National Socialists came to power in 1933, around 100 Jews lived in Beckum. The anti-Jewish measures of the Nazi rulers led to a massive emigration and emigration of Jews from Beckum. By February 1938 the congregation had melted down to 24 members.

During the Reichspogromnacht numerous Jewish facilities, especially the synagogue, school and teacher's apartment, were devastated. Several Jews were badly mistreated, and the 81-year-old Alex Falk died of his injuries that same night. On the morning of November 10th, parishioner Erich Stein was forced to knock down the Hebrew characters over the front door of the synagogue, which translated: My house should be a house of prayer for all peoples.

A few Jews were able to flee abroad after these events, those who stayed behind were taken to the cities of Münster, Dortmund and Essen and from there mostly deported to concentration camps. When the last two remaining Jews, the married couple Louis and Therese Rose, were transported to Theresienstadt on July 31, 1942, Jewish life in Beckum was extinguished. After use u. a. The synagogue was demolished in 1967 as a party office and government agency.

Jewish Cemetery

51 ° 45 ′ 20 "N, 8 ° 2 ′ 43" E

A Jewish cemetery on Ostwall is first mentioned in 1690. Part of the medieval city fortifications, the former double ramparts, were used for burials. The oldest tombstone dates from 1758, from 1886 to 1893 the burial site was expanded through the purchase of land. The last burial probably took place in 1937. Since July 8, 1985 the Jewish cemetery has been on the list of monuments of the city of Beckum.

Commemoration after 1945

Memorial for the victims of the Jewish community in Beckum

In 1974, the city council decided to erect a memorial for the victims of the Jewish community in Beckum in the city's facilities at the west gate. The design was entrusted to the sculptor Heinrich Gerhard Bücker .

On November 9th, 1975, the 37th anniversary of the pogrom night, the inauguration of the memorial, consisting of four differently sized green dolomite stones, took place. The stone in front bears a quote from the Lamentations on a bronze plate: Come, all of you who pass by, look and see whether there is any pain like the pain that has been done to me ...

In 1988, on the 50th anniversary of the November pogroms, a bronze plaque, also designed by Heinrich Gerhard Bücker, was placed on the site of the former synagogue during a memorial hour. It bears the lettering that was also above the door of the parish hall until 1938: My house should be a house of prayer for all peoples.

As part of the Stolpersteine project , the artist Gunter Demnig laid a total of 32 stones in the city on March 13, 2007 and June 5, 2008. They should keep alive the memory of the mostly Jewish victims of National Socialism in Beckum. See also the list of stumbling blocks in Beckum .

literature

  • Hugo Krick: History and fate of the Jews in Beckum (= sources and research on the history of the Warendorf district. Vol. 16, ZDB -ID 980823-1 ). Archive of the Warendorf district, Warendorf 1986.
  • Martin Gesing: Beckum. In: Susanne Freund, Franz-Josef Jakobi and Peter Johanek (eds.): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Westphalia and Lippe . The localities and territories in today's Münster administrative district. (= Publications of the Historical Commission for Westphalia. Vol. 45/2). Ardey-Verlag, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-87023-282-5 , pp. 174-183.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diethard Aschoff : The Jews in Beckum up to the end of the 17th century. In: Hugo Krick: History and fate of the Jews in Beckum. 1986, pp. 32-49.
  2. ^ Hugo Krick: History and fate of the Jews in Beckum. 1986, p. 60.
  3. ^ Hugo Krick: History and fate of the Jews in Beckum. 1986, p. 67.
  4. ^ Hugo Krick: History and fate of the Jews in Beckum. 1986, p. 76.
  5. ^ Martin Gesing: Beckum. In: The localities and territories in today's administrative district of Münster. 2008, p. 179.