Rehburg

Summary: In 1835, Rehburg’s Jewish community built a synagogue and mikveh at 43 Muehlentor. Rehburg’s Jewish cemetery at Am Gieseberg was consecrated in or around 1850, and we also know that the community maintained a school (with up to 15 pupils) from the 1840s until 1880 (possibly 1894). In 1932, a non-local teacher instructed two Jewish children in religion; a shochet also served the community. The synagogue, which had been destroyed in a neighborhood fire, was renovated and reopened in 1934. Rehburg’s Jewish cemetery was desecrated and closed down in January 1939. The synagogue was damaged on Pogrom Night, and its contents were burned on the street. Five local Jewish men were imprisoned in Hanover and sent to Buchenwald, where one of them died on November 16, 1938. By December 1938, six Rehburg Jews had moved to other German cities (Bremen, Hanover, Schluesselburg), and six had immigrated to Argentina. The synagogue building was sold in April 1939. In March 1942, two Jews were deported from Rehburg to Warsaw (via Ahlem). A Jewish woman—she was married to a non-Jew—was deported to Theresienstadt in February 1945; she survived and returned to Rehburg. The Shoah death toll for Rehburg was either 11 or 14 Jews, according to different sources. The former synagogue is now an apartment building.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn
Sources: FJG, JGNB1, SIA, YV