Jewish community of Drensteinfurt
The Jewish community of Drensteinfurt existed between 1811 and 1939. The synagogue is one of the few surviving Jewish places of worship in the Münsterland .
History of the Jewish Community
The first mention of Jews in Drensteinfurt comes from the year 1544, when a Benedict resident in Münster was arrested in Drensteinfurt for high debts and embezzled sacred objects. Jewish residents of Drensteinfurt are documented for the first time in 1581.
Between 1581 and 1811 no Jews lived permanently in the place. The situation only changed under French rule, when Drensteinfurt belonged to the Grand Duchy of Berg . In 1811 there were again four Jewish families living in the city, in 1816 there were 14 people. The Jewish population of Drensteinfurt as well as of the towns of Walstedde and Bockum , which are part of the synagogue district, grew continuously until 1885. With a total of 68 parishioners, it reached its all-time high this year. Since 1890 the number has fallen again, however, with large parts of the rural Jewish population moving to the cities, especially to Münster .
Drensteinfurt synagogue
Construction of the synagogue
Since July 6, 1872, the community had its own synagogue, previously private rooms had always been used as a prayer hall. In 1909 the Drensteinfurt community became an independent branch of the synagogue community of Ahlen , to which the connection, however, remained very loose. The synagogue was built from 1870 to 1872 on the connecting route between Münsterstrasse and Mühlenstrasse, on today's Synagogengasse (in the Nazi era Kirchengasse , previously called Judengasse ), in the Munsterland brick style. Since 1890 the community had been registered as the owner of the property, which was previously privately owned by Jews. The simple, red building in the arched style fills almost the entire square base. The arched portal with a wooden entrance door, to which two steps lead, is framed by Baumberger sandstone . To the right of the entrance was a mezuzah . The round arch bears the Hebrew inscription: זה השער לה 'צדיקים יבואו בו - “ This is the gate to HIM. Proven come in. "(Psalm 118, 20)
In the interior, a spiral staircase leads to the women's gallery. The walls are covered with beige plaster, on the east wall the place of the destroyed Torah shrine is marked with a white area. Wooden benches for 20 to 30 people were set up in the synagogue. After numerous parishioners moved away, the synagogue was only used on public holidays or on the occasion of a wedding or bar mitzvah in the 1920s and 1930s .
Downfall
During the November pogroms in 1938 , SS men from Werne and Bockum-Hövel devastated the interior of the Drensteinfurt synagogue. The Torah scrolls were rolled out in front of the synagogue and trampled. The National Socialists forcibly drove numerous parishioners into the synagogue and forced them to hold a church service. Large parts of the inventory were burned or made into firewood and sold in the following days. The cult objects were also lost. Only a prayer book and a pentateuch remained from the community property. The head of the parish presumably handed the Torah scrolls to the Catholic pastor Alfers, who arranged for them to be passed on to the Munster rabbi Julius Voos . The holy scriptures may have reached the former rabbi of Münster, Fritz Leopold Steinthal , who emigrated to Argentina via Voos .
On May 4, 1939, Siegmund Salomon, representing the community, sold the synagogue property for 1,000 Reichsmarks to Gertrud Klaverkamp, the daughter of the previous owner. Klaverkamp rented the building to an electrician who used the synagogue as a workshop and storage room. Due to the stipulation in the lease not to change anything to the building fabric, the church was largely preserved. In 1944, however, a bomb attack hit the roof of the former synagogue.
Drensteinfurt Jews were also murdered during the Holocaust . Most of the city's Jewish residents died in the Stutthof concentration camp ; only a few managed to emigrate to Israel or Uruguay . Today there are no more Jews living in Drensteinfurt.
reconstruction
After the end of the Nazi regime , the owner had to make a payment of 670 D-Marks as part of the reimbursement procedure in 1953. However, the building only came into the public eye during the discussion about its registration as a monument in the 1980s. In 1982 it was temporarily placed under protection, for which the Protestant pastor in particular had campaigned. In 1984 a discussion group was formed by the Protestant parish of Drensteinfurt , from which the Old Synagogue Association emerged in 1990 . After it was finally placed under protection in 1985, the city acquired the building on January 20, 1988.
In 1990 the restoration could begin. Private donations as well as state funds and a grant from the Warendorf district were available for this purpose. As part of the extensive work, the interior was reconstructed as far as possible based on historical photographs, the roof structure was renewed and the facade was thoroughly cleaned. In 1991 Kirchgasse was renamed Synagogengasse . On November 9, 1992, the restored synagogue was finally inaugurated as a “place of worship with a reminder and warning character”. Since then, the former Jewish church has been open for cultural events. In 1993 the city of Drensteinfurt received the Europa Nostra Medal for the "haunting and careful recovery of a small but important monument of Jewish tradition in Westphalia".
Drensteinfurt Jewish cemetery
The Jewish cemetery was laid out in 1826. The oldest tombstone that has survived to this day dates from 1853. In 1891 an extension was made because the burial place had become too small for the rapidly growing community at that time. In 1936 and 1937, the cemetery was devastated by National Socialist vandalism . In addition, the owners of the neighboring properties were no longer afraid to steal gravestones to support ditch embankments. In 1938, however, a family grave was also restored. The last burial in the cemetery took place on March 12, 1929.
It was not until the mid-1950s that the city administration arranged for the Jewish cemetery to be repaired. In the 1980s, the Friends' Association of the Old Synagogue restored some gravestones. Today there are 26 gravestones, some of which are badly weathered, on the burial ground. A comparison with the register of deaths shows that around 37 tombstones are missing. In 1982 the cemetery was added to the list of monuments of the city of Drensteinfurt.
Awls | Beckum | Beelen | Drensteinfurt | Enniger | Oelde | Stromberg | Sendenhorst | Telgte | Wadersloh | Warendorf, Old Cemetery | Warendorf, New Cemetery
Community development
| year | Parishioners |
|---|---|
| 1811 | approx. 11 |
| 1847 | 34 |
| 1864 | 41 |
| 1871 | 39 |
| 1885 | 66 |
| 1895 | 49 |
| 1905 | approx. 25 |
| 1925 | approx. 25 |
| 1935 | 21st |
| 1941 | 0 |
literature
- Diethard Aschoff: On the older history of the Jews in the later synagogue district Drensteinfurt-Sendenhorst . In: Heimatblätter der Glocke. 5, 1992, ZDB ID 619147-2 , pp. 339-341.
- Sabine Omland: On the history of the Jews in Drensteinfurt. 1811-1941. Archive of the district of Warendorf, Warendorf 1997, ISBN 3-920836-17-0 ( sources and research on the history of the district of Warendorf 32).
- Elfi Pracht-Jörns : Jewish cultural heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume 4: Münster administrative region. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-7616-1397-0 , pp. 463-470 ( contributions to the architectural and art monuments of Westphalia 1, 2).
Individual evidence
Ahlen Jewish Community | Beckum Jewish Community | Jewish community of Drensteinfurt | Jewish community Enniger | Jewish community Freckenhorst | Jewish community Oelde | Jewish community of Sendenhorst | Jewish community Stromberg | Telgte Jewish Community | Jewish Community Wadersloh | Jewish community of Warendorf
Coordinates: 51 ° 47 ′ 51.7 " N , 7 ° 44 ′ 33.4" E