Jewish community of Oelde

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Behind the Jewish schoolhouse (building on the far right) was the Oelde synagogue.

The Jewish Community of Oelde existed between the middle of the 17th century and 1938. It reached its highest number of members in 1861 with 84 believers.

history

The first mention of Jews in Oelde comes from the year 1552, when the healer Salomon was staying in the village. In 1560, Hertz to Oelde, a Jew, was expelled from the city. Despite the decision to expel the bishopric of Münster , Jewish travelers also visited Oelde in 1568 and 1571. Tax lists of the prince-bishop's " court Jews " have named Jewish settlers in Oelde since 1662.

With the permission of Prince-Bishop Clemens August , the growing Jewish community was able to build its own house of prayer in the garden of Nathan Samuel behind the house at 166 Lange Strasse (now 21). In 1816 the building was in a " mediocre state " before the building fabric deteriorated considerably in the following years. Therefore, the community acquired a new house, which is now at Ruggestraße 10. Behind the front building, a half-timbered house that was to house the Jewish school in future, an extension was built that served as the actual synagogue . In 1829 the church was solemnly consecrated by the regional rabbi Abraham Sutro . The financing of the new building caused big problems for the small community for years.

Plan of the synagogue and the Jewish schoolhouse.

The synagogue could be reached via a long hallway that led through the front building. To the east of the interior was the elevated Torah shrine , in front of which - as is usual in conservative communities - the bima , the lectern for reading, was set up in the middle of the room . The rows of benches were painted white and decorated with gold. Light only entered the synagogue through a single, large window on the north side.

The following important information is still missing in the sections on the Nazi era and the post-war era:
see material note disc + photo
Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

time of the nationalsocialism

During the November pogroms in 1938, the Oelder and Ahlen National Socialists demolished the synagogue: They tore out the gas pipe, destroyed the furniture and smeared the Torah scrolls . Arson did not take place because of the narrow surrounding buildings. At that time, the Jewish community only had half of its former members: many had emigrated or went to Münster . The community was forced to sell its buildings. On November 17, 1938, sales negotiations with master tailor Bernhard Düding came to an end. Two years later, Düding had the synagogue torn down and the front building completely rebuilt. The former Jewish schoolhouse is still on Ruggestraße today, but with a new look since the post-war period.

The mayor, who was in office from 1938 during the National Socialist era , pleaded with Oelde to make Oelde “judenrein” and to deport the last Jews . Twelve Jewish citizens were "evacuated" to Münster on December 10, 1941 and from there on to Riga . Most of the Jewish inhabitants of the city of Oelde met a cruel death in the extermination camps of the Holocaust . Today no members of the old community live in Oelde any more.

post war period

The former mayor, who was involved in carrying out the deportation, was sentenced to one year imprisonment in 1961 for aiding and abetting in the office of grave deprivation of liberty . Since 1988 a memorial stone on the town hall forecourt has been commemorating the Jewish victims of the Nazi regime in Oelde.

Membership development

year Parishioners
1795 20th
1803 26th
1829 53
1843 73
1855 79
1861 84
1932 41
1941 0

literature

  • Hans-Jörg Gerste: From the pogrom night to deportation. Unpublished material on the persecution and fate of the Jewish citizens of Oelde (1938–1945) . Publications from the Warendorf District Archives, Series 2, Issue 6. Published by the Warendorf District. Warendorf 1994. pp. 18ff.
  • Albert Pauls: On the history of the Jews in Oelde . In: Siegfried Schmieder (ed.): Oelde - the city in which we live . Contributions to the history of the city. Sources and research on the history of the Warendorf district 17/18. Oelde 1987.
  • Elfi Pracht-Jörns : Jewish cultural heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume IV: Münster administrative district. JPBachem Verlag. Cologne 2002. pp. 473-480.
  • LG Münster, March 8, 1961 . In: Justice and Nazi crimes . Collection of German criminal judgments for Nazi homicide crimes 1945–1966, Vol. XVII, edited by Irene Sagel-Grande, HH Fuchs, CF Rüter . Amsterdam: University Press, 1977, No. 503, pp. 87–112 Subject matter of the proceedings: Transport of the Jewish residents of Oelde as part of the deportation of Jews from the Münster district to Riga

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pauls, pp. 667-669.
  2. ↑ Pauls, p. 677f.
  3. ↑ Pracht-Jörns, p. 475.
  4. ↑ Christian Frederick Rüter: "East and West German criminal proceedings against those responsible for the deportation of the Jews", in: Anne Klein, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): NS - Injustice before Cologne Courts after 1945. Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7743- 0338-X , p. 45.
  5. ^ Judgment of the LG Münster of March 8, 1961 in: Justiz und NS-Verbrechen: Collection of German criminal judgments for Nazi homicidal crimes 1945–1966 , Volume 17, Amsterdam 1977, ISBN 90-6042-017-9 , pp. 89–112.