Synagogue (Weener)

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Information and memorial plaque for the synagogue on Westerstrasse

The former synagogue in Weener was used by the local community from 1829 until the National Socialist era . Local National Socialists destroyed the building during the November pogroms in 1938 . The associated Jewish community then dissolved. The last Jewish resident left the city on April 7, 1942.

history

The Jewish community in Weener was the largest in the Rheiderland . Its origin goes back to the middle of the 17th century. In 1805, only eleven Jews were counted in Weener: Too few for the quorum ( minyan ) of ten or more religiously mature Jews, which is necessary to hold a full Jewish service . At the beginning of the 19th century there was apparently a brisk Jewish immigration to Weener. Initially, services were held in a restaurant on Westerstrasse that the congregation had bought from a local resident. Plans for the construction of a synagogue began around 1828. On July 3, 1828, the Jewish community in Weener was able to purchase a piece of land on Westerstrasse (1933–2008: Hindenburgstrasse) on which the synagogue was built at the turn of 1828/29.

Shortly afterwards it became necessary to build a teacher's apartment. In exchange, the congregation sold the building in which services were held until the synagogue was built. With the proceeds, she had a teacher's apartment built in the immediate vicinity of the synagogue on Westerstrasse in 1837, which initially also housed a classroom. When this became too small for the growing number of children, the community had the Jewish school built between the two buildings in 1853, which was used until 1924. The building itself has been preserved to this day.

In 1887 the community had the teacher's apartment torn down and a year later a new building was built in its place, which also contained a mikveh . At the beginning of the 20th century there was a lively community life around the synagogue in Weener, as can be seen from an audit report from the regional rabbi Jona Hermann Löb to the district president in Aurich: “All buildings are in good condition, the synagogue [is] in Decorated inside worthy. The Brotherhood and the other charities are doing beneficial work. "

In 1928 the community had the synagogue renovated and returned to its intended use with a centenary celebration in which citizens of other faiths also took part. A ceremony was held in the Hotel zum Weinberg on September 22, 1929. On this occasion, the Synagogue Association published a memorandum that provided information on the history of the community and community life. In 1929, an annual report from the Emden district rabbinate to the district president in Aurich said that parishioners regularly attended church services in the synagogue “on Saturdays, on the festive days and on the days of the year ”. As the report also shows, the school building was also in good condition at the time. However, the ritual bath, the mikveh, urgently needed renovation.

On the night before the November pogrom in 1938 , the local group of the NSDAP held a memorial service in the Hotel zum Weinberg for those who fell in the 1923 Hitler coup . When news arrived that the embassy secretary in Paris, Ernst Eduard vom Rath , had been assassinated by Herschel Grynszpan , anti-Semitic speeches were made and general threats were made against the Jewish population. A specific object was not named. The district administration in Oldenburg briefed the mayor of the city of Leer , Erich Drescher , in broad outline about the planned actions. Together with his nephew, who happened to be visiting, he was brought by his driver to the town hall, where he held a meeting with Standartenführer Friedrich Meyer, which served to coordinate the areas of responsibility. Both were informed of the events that night, probably independently of one another.

After the conversation, Meyer went to Weener to coordinate the actions. The local police sergeant J. Verlaat had previously been informed by telephone from the SA standard in Leer that the synagogue would be set on fire. Sturmbannführer Lahmeyer was awakened and instructed by Standartenführer Friedrich Meyer, whereupon he had the local SA members convene in front of the synagogue in the early morning hours of November 10 and ordered the delivery of gasoline by telephone at a petrol station on Hindenburgstrasse (since 2009: Westerstrasse) . This was then brought into the synagogue via side byways through the windows in the north wall. There the SA members piled up easily flammable materials and set them on fire at 4:30 a.m. The fire spread quickly. Shortly after the arson there was a large flame over the house, which illuminated the whole street. Members of the SA then blocked the scene of the fire, and at the behest of the SA, the fire brigade limited itself to using water hoses to prevent the flames from spreading to the surrounding houses (a barn and a workshop), which they succeeded. The neighboring Jewish school on the other hand was affected on the roof side. The synagogue itself burned down to the charred outer walls. Parallel to the action, local National Socialists abused members of the Weener Jewish community, demolished several shops and confiscated money and valuables from Jewish property.

The community quickly disbanded after the November pogroms. On April 7, 1942, the district administrator of the Leer district reported to the district president that the last Jewish inhabitant of Stapelmoor, who had belonged to the Jewish community of Weener, had emigrated. This enabled Weener to be declared “ free of Jews ”.

Memorial on Westerstrasse

The remains of the synagogue were then removed, but the property was not built over again. There is now a parking lot there, on which the community erected a monument in the form of a menorah in 1990 . A memorial plaque was attached to the former teacher's house.

The trials against those primarily responsible for the November 1938 pogroms in Weener were brought before a jury court in Aurich in 1949 . The charges were rioting , arson , deprivation of liberty and crimes against humanity . The eight defendants were sentenced to short terms in prison. The former Sturmbannführer Lahmeyer was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for having passed the orders on. He did not have to serve this sentence, however, as his pre-trial and internment detention totaling three years and nine months was fully credited. Of the other defendants, the court sentenced bricklayer W. to six months' imprisonment for deprivation of liberty, coachman S. to four months for the same offense, and gardener B. to six weeks in prison for crimes against humanity in one case and deprivation of liberty and the payroll clerk S. to one month imprisonment for deprivation of liberty. The court acquitted three other defendants.

According to a newspaper report, the district court director found that none of the defendants had a reputation for fanaticism. "The action held by the SA was carried out here only in the strictest ordered framework, without it having been generally approved by the defendants."

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Daniel Fraenkel: Weener. In: Herbert Obenaus (Ed. In collaboration with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . Wallstein, Göttingen 2005; ISBN 3-89244-753-5 ; Pp. 1534-1544
  2. ↑ Excerpt from the audit report of the regional rabbi Dr. Jona Hermann Löb on the synagogue community Weener to the regional president in Aurich from 1909. (NLA Au Rep. 16/2 No. 1602). Quoted here from: Jewish life in Weener: Findings and testimonies May 22 to September 30, 2016 . Exhibition in the former Jewish school in Leer .
  3. ↑ City of Leer (East Friesland): We want to smoke out the wolf in his gorge! The pogrom night in Leer
  4. ↑ a b Fritz Wessels: The Reichspogromnacht and the end of the Jewish community in Weener . In: Herbert Reyer / MartinTielke (ed.): Frisia Judaica - Contributions to the history of the Jews in Ostfriedland . Publishing house Ostfriesische Landschaft . Aurich 1988, p. 279 ff.
  5. ^ Alemannia Judaica: Weener (Leer district, East Friesland) Jewish history / synagogue . Online at www.alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b Nordwest-Zeitung of February 24, 1949 The "Kristallnacht" by Weener . Here quoted from: The Rheiderland under the swastika. Local history guide to sites of resistance and persecution 1933-45. (Memento from May 17, 2006)

Coordinates: 53 ° 9 '55.3 "  N , 7 ° 21' 4.7"  E