Verden an der Aller
General information: First Jewish presence: 1571; peak Jewish population: 120 in 1875; Jewish population in 1933: 78
Summary: On January 31, 1858, Verden an der Aller’s Jewish
community inaugurated its first synagogue at 7 Johanniswall;
the building also housed a school and a mikveh. Jewish burials
took place in Hoyerhagen until 1834, when a cemetery was
consecrated in Verden.
Although many Jews left Verden after 1933, a Jewish youth
group continued to organize classes in Hebrew and Jewish
history; on Sabbath afternoons, youths organized a minyan.
On October 28, 1938, David Gruenfeld, a teacher of
religion who had been born in Poland, was deported to his
country of birth. Later, on Pogrom Night, rioters smashed
windows in Jewish-owned businesses. At approximately five
o’clock in the morning, SA men, most likely from the Etelsen
Fuehrer School, ransacked the synagogue and set it on fire.
Thirteen Jewish men were arrested and imprisoned for two
or three weeks, after which they were forced to leave Verden.
The synagogue’s ruins were leveled, and the community was
forced to sell the property.
Twelve Jews managed to flee after Pogrom Night. On
November 17, 1941, at least 20 Jews were deported to
Minsk, where all but one were killed. One local Jew—he
was married to a Catholic resident—survived the war in
Verden. Of those Jews who still lived in Verden in 1938,
at least 29 perished in the Shoah. Three Jews returned to
Verden after the war.
The cemetery was vandalized in 1960. In 1966, in memory
of the former synagogue, a memorial plaque was affixed to
the Johanniswall; in 1993, a monument was unveiled at the
town hall in memory of Verden’s murdered Jews.
Photo: Firefighters standing in front of the burning synagogue of Verden an der Aller on the morning of November 10, 1938. Courtesy of: Town Archive of Verden an der Aller.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: EJL, JGNB1
Sources: EJL, JGNB1
Located in: lower-saxony