Meckenheim Jewish community
A Jewish community in Meckenheim , a town in the Rhein-Sieg district ( North Rhine-Westphalia ), existed as early as the 16th century.
history
Jews in Meckenheim were first recorded in 1598 ; David Hirtz and Alexander Kluge were named in a complaint. The Jews, who lived there in the following centuries, lived modestly from money business, as shopkeepers and butchers and also traded in wine and horses. Little by little they succeeded in building their own houses in the main street and its side streets. A great fire in 1787 destroyed many Christian and Jewish homes. A separate Jewish cemetery in Meckenheim was established from 1711.
Until the middle of the 19th century, only six Jewish families were admitted to Meckenheim. In 1829 the following heads of household were named: Berlin Jakob, Ezich Levi, Hirz Hermann, Jahn Bernard, Selig Bernhard and Wolff Levi.
In 1888 the highest level of the Jewish population was reached with 150 people, about 4% of the total population, and at the same time the Protestant community of that time was smaller. At the end of the 19th century, the Jewish population declined as some migrated to the larger cities in the region, where better economic opportunities were available.
The Jewish community in Meckenheim was from 1869 filial community of the newly established Jewish community of the circle Rheinbach .
Synagogue and school house
The Jewish community in Meckenheim built a small synagogue in today's Prof.-Scheeben-Strasse in 1870 and a building for the religious school directly in front of it in 1883. A cantor and religion teacher has been employed since 1865 . The Jewish children received elementary instruction at the Christian boys and girls school. From 1888 the Jewish religious school in Rheinbach had to be attended.
The synagogue, which was also visited by the Jewish population in Adendorf , Altendorf , Arzdorf and Ersdorf , was a simple building that had space for 70 people (including the women in the gallery ). There was a three-meter-long bridge on the first floor between the school in front of it and the synagogue. On November 10, 1938, the synagogue's furniture was destroyed and then, under pressure from the state, the building was sold to the neighboring building materials store and converted into a storage room. The synagogue, the former Jewish schoolhouse and the neighboring buildings were destroyed in a bomb attack in early March 1945.
Community development
| year | Parishioners |
|---|---|
| 1808/09 | 51 people |
| 1854 | 84 people |
| 1872 | 122 people |
| 1888 | 150 people |
| 1895 | 143 people |
| 1905 | 100 people |
| 1911 | 88 people |
| 1933 | 65 people |
| 1939 | 26 people |
time of the nationalsocialism
During the time of National Socialism , some of the Jewish residents emigrated because of the reprisals they were subjected to. On November 10, 1938 at the scope of the were November pogroms smashed the windows of all Jewish shops and houses and partially demolished the facility. The synagogue was not set on fire because the narrow buildings meant a danger to the neighboring houses.
In 1942 the last Jewish residents were forcibly committed to a collection camp in Bonn-Endenich and deported in the summer of the same year .
The memorial book of the Federal Archives lists 40 Jewish citizens born in Meckenheim who fell victim to the genocide of the National Socialist regime .
Commemoration
In 1984 a memorial was inaugurated on Synagogenplatz to commemorate the destruction of the Jewish community. As early as the 1950s, a memorial stone for the victims of the Nazi persecution of Jews was erected in the local Jewish cemetery.
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 .
- Elfi Pracht-Jörns : Jewish cultural heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia. Volume 1: Cologne district (= contributions to the architectural and art monuments in the Rhineland. Volume 34). Bachem, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7616-1322-9 , pp. 532-538.
Individual evidence
- ^ Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945 . Retrieved February 8, 2011.