Synagogue Birkenfeld (Nahe)

The synagogue in Birkenfeld was built in 1862/63 in today's Schlossallee 5. The synagogue was devastated during the November pogroms in 1938 . In 1939 the synagogue was demolished and a forestry office was built on the property.

synagogue

There was a prayer room in a private house as early as 1831. Planning for the construction of a synagogue began in 1859. In 1862/63 the synagogue was built in today's Schlossallee 5. It was a rectangular building with three arched windows on each side wall. There was a round window above the entrance portal. The synagogue was renovated in 1913. In mid-1938 the building was sold to the district association. Although no longer used as a synagogue and no longer owned by the Jewish community, the interior of the former synagogue was devastated during the November pogroms in 1938. At the beginning of 1939 the building was demolished and a forestry office was set up on the property. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the November pogroms, the city of Birkenfeld set up a memorial stone in 1988 on the place where the synagogue used to stand. The inscription reads:

In remembrance and as a reminder The SYNAGOGUE of the Jewish citizens of the city of Birkenfeld 1938, November 9, 1988
stood here from 1862 until the years
of Nazi terror

Birkenfeld Jewish community

Until 1800 Jews were forbidden to settle in Birkenfeld. In 1808 the first Jewish family settled in Birkenfeld. From 1892 to 1923 the Jewish community was a subsidiary of the Hoppstädten Jewish community . In 1923 it received the status of an independent municipality. The Jewish community had its own religious school. At times, a separate religion teacher was employed, who also performed the duties of prayer leader and shochet . Until the end of the 19th century, the deceased were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Hoppstädten. From 1923 the burials took place in the newly created Jewish cemetery in Birkenfeld. From 1933, after the seizure of power of Adolf Hitler , the Jewish inhabitants were increasingly disenfranchised. In addition, there were repeated anti-Jewish actions. As a result, many Jewish families left Birkenfeld.

Development of the Jewish population

year	Jews	Jewish families
1808	11
1817		2
1845		6th
1900	76
1905	60
1910	45
1925	25th
1933	37
1938	11
1941	2

Source: alemannia-judaica.de; jewische-gemeinden.de

The memorial book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under National Socialist Tyranny 1933–1945 and the Central Database of the Names of the Holocaust Victims by Yad Vashem list 18 members of the Birkenfeld Jewish community (who were born there or lived there for a while) who were during the National Socialist era were murdered.

literature

• Cilli Kasper-Holtkatte: Jews on the move. On the social history of a minority in the Saar-Mosel area around 1800. In: Helmut Castritius (Ed.), Alfred Haverkamp (Ed.), Franz Irsigler (Ed.), Stefi Jersch-Wenzel (Ed.): Research on the history of the Jews (= Research on the history of the Jews. Volume 3). Hahnsche Buchhandlung Verlag, Hanover 1996, ISBN 978-3775256124 . ( online )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} City of Birkenfeld / Nahe . alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Birkenfeld / Nahe (Rhineland-Palatinate) . jewische-gemeinden.de. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
3. ↑ Commemorative Book Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945 . Federal Archives. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
4. ^ Central database of the names of Holocaust victims . Yad Vashem - International Holocaust Memorial. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

Coordinates: 49 ° 38 '54.9 "  N , 7 ° 9' 54.1"  E