Jemgum synagogue

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The former synagogue in Jemgum had the local community built in 1810. The synagogue was repeatedly mentioned in reports up to 1930 as being in disrepair. Then the tradition about their condition ends.

history

Jewish residents in Jemgum can be identified from the early 17th century. Initially there was probably a cultic bond with the considerably larger Jewish community of Emden , whose cemetery was also used by the Jemgumers. From 1670, the Jemgumer seem Jews with the investment of the Jewish cemetery in Smarlingen of having joined community Weeneraner .

An independent community was formed at the beginning or middle of the 18th century. In 1757 a local rabbi is mentioned for the first time , and from 1779 a preacher is mentioned in the Jewish community. However, the services took place in a Jewish private house on Langen Strasse until the building of its own synagogue in 1809. There were no community-owned institutions at that time. The ritual baths were also in private households, which sometimes led to conflicts about their use.

Under French rule , the legal situation for Jews in East Frisia improved at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1809, the Jemgum Jews bought a house on Langen Strasse (today: Lange Strasse 62) diagonally across from the confluence with Sielstrasse. A year later she had a synagogue built in the garden of this house "with the considerable help of the great Rothschild".

Due to the small size of the Jemgum community and the weak economic power of its members, the building had to be auctioned a short time later, but was repurchased with outside help. In addition to the synagogue, the community also ran an elementary school with a teacher from 1846 , which was closed shortly afterwards, because in 1852 the twelve Jewish children attended the local school.

From 1858 at the latest, regular services could no longer be held in the synagogue “because of the small number of parishioners”. In an expert report by a Jemgum master mason, it is described in 1869 as a "totally dilapidated church". Afterwards, there was a collection for the renovation of the church, which apparently was successful, because from the 1870s, church services were again sporadically held in Jemgum. Holding a full Jewish service was only possible with the participation of foreign Jews, as this was the only way to get the minimum number of ten prayers ( minyan ) together. Therefore, in 1898 , the state rabbi advocated joining the neighboring community in Weener , which the Jemgumers rejected. In Jemgum, after that, a service could only be held irregularly. In 1905, for the first time, there was none for the whole year. In 1910 the last head of the synagogue was appointed. From 1917 at the latest, there was no longer any church service. After that, the building remained in the possession of the municipality, but fell into disrepair. In the 1920s, the community rented the house and the former synagogue to a Jemgum family.

The synagogue was mentioned for the last time in 1930. During the November pogroms in 1938 there were attacks against the local Jews in Jemgum, a “catch-up”, as happened in the other Jewish communities, apparently did not occur in Jemgum. The synagogue, although still owned by the community, was in such bad condition that it was no longer a target. It hadn't been used for two decades and was hidden behind several closely spaced buildings at the eastern end of Long Street. It is also possible that the dilapidated building had long since been demolished, which happened during the war at the latest . The property went into private hands.

literature

  • Herbert Reyer: Jemgum. In: Herbert Obenaus (Ed.): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-753-5 ; Pp. 903-907
  • Gerhard Kronsweide: The Jewish community Jemgum 1604–1940. Living together in Emsflecken , Aurich 2016, Ostfriesische Familienkunde, contributions to genealogy and heraldry, published by the Upstalsboom Society for historical personal research and population history in Ostfriesland eV issue 23
  • The end of the Jews in East Frisia. Catalog for the exhibition of the East Frisian landscape on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1988, ISBN 3-925365-41-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Herbert Reyer: Jemgum. In: Herbert Obenaus (Ed.): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-753-5 ; Pp. 903-907
  2. ^ Harm Wiemann: From bygone days. Chronicle of the combined community of Bunde . Bunde 1983, p. 97
  3. ^ Gerhard Kronsweide, local chronicle of the East Frisian landscape : Jemgum, community Jemgum, district Leer . Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  4. ↑ Alemannia Judaica: Jemgum (Leer district, East Frisia) . Online at www.alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  5. ^ Gerhard Kronsweide: Jemgum Jewish Community. 1604-1940. Retrieved January 9, 2019.

Coordinates: 53 ° 15 '51.4 "  N , 7 ° 23' 17.3"  E