Mülheim synagogue (Mülheim-Kärlich)
The former Mülheim synagogue in the district of the same name in Mülheim-Kärlich in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Mayen-Koblenz was built in 1925 and destroyed just 13 years later, during the November pogroms in 1938 . It was on Bassenheimer Strasse.
Jewish community and synagogue in Mülheim
The Jewish community of Mülheim-Kettig-Kärlich came into being in the 18th century. In 1784 there were four Jewish households in the village. In the 19th century - from 1808 to 1895 - the number of Jews in Mülheim rose from 13 to 58. In 1846 the Jewish community set up a prayer room on the upper floor of what was then the house at Bassenheimer Straße 26. Since the hall no longer had enough space for all worshipers after the First World War , the community sold the house in 1925 and built a small synagogue on the rear part of the property away from the street . Its inauguration was celebrated on October 16, 1925. Photos of the Mülheim synagogue, which should only last for a few years, do not exist. Details of its architecture and interior design have only been passed down orally. After that, the building was made of pumice stones, took up an area of about 6 by 7 meters and was vaulted by a dome with a Star of David. Inside was a memorial plaque for a Jewish soldier from Mülheim who died in World War I.
During the November pogrom in 1938 , local National Socialists desecrated the Mülheim synagogue, destroyed the interior, robbed the building and burned it down. Then they carried the Star of David that had adorned the house of God, liturgical vestments, sacred objects and the Torah scrolls through the village and made fun of them. In 1933 there were around 60 Jews living in Mülheim alone, at the beginning of 1942 there were 41 in Mülheim, Kärlich and the associated community of Urmitz-Bahnhof. In the course of two waves of deportation in March and July 1942, they were deported to the Izbica ghetto in Poland, which served as a transit camp , and were then murdered in the Belzec and Sobibor extermination camps .
The remains of the Mülheim synagogue were later torn down. Its location was used as a garden in the post-war period and houses were built over a few years ago. In addition to the synagogue, the Mülheim community also had a Jewish religious school and its own cemetery on the southern outskirts.
Jewish prayer room in Kärlich
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The Jewish families in the neighboring community of Kärlich had had their own prayer room since 1808. It was located above a shed behind a small residential building at Burgstrasse 3. During the pogrom of 1938, the building remained largely undamaged, apart from the broken window panes. The outbuilding in which the prayer room was set up was demolished in the 1970s (?), While the small, formerly Jewish house was restored. It has been a listed building since 1983 . After being privately owned for several years, it now belongs to the city of Mülheim-Kärlich.
Commemoration
Since 1987 the municipal administration of Mülheim-Kärlich has invited the displaced Jews to their former homeland several times to send a sign of regret and to face the responsibility that also accrues to those born after the crimes of the Nazi era. A memorial stone for the deported Jews from Mülheim was erected on the Jewish cemetery on Lohrweg, which still exists today.
literature
- Christa Henrichs: Jews in our community. In: Winfried Henrichs (Ed.): Mülheim-Kärlich. Mülheim-Kärlich 1981, pp. 201-205.
- Stefan Fischbach, Ingrid Westerhoff: "... and this is the gate of heaven". Synagogues in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. Published by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate , State Conservatory Office of the Saarland, Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3313-7 , pp. 314-316 ( memorial book of the synagogues in Germany 2).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Theresia Zimmer: Documentation on the history of the Jewish population in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland from 1800 to 1945. Self-published by the Rhineland-Palatinate State Archives Administration, 1982.
- ^ Website of the city of Mülheim-Kärlich
- ↑ a b c Winfried Henrichs: City Chronicle Mülheim-Kärlich. Published by City of Mülheim-Kärlich, Mülheim-Kärlich 2009, p. 199 and 200.
