Hopsten

Summary: The Jews of Hopsten initially conducted services in a prayer room on Marktstrasse; the congregants were presumably Orthodox, for women and men used different entrances and were separated by a wooden trellis during the service. Often unable to gather enough men for a minyan, this tiny community (an affiliate of Ibbenbueren) attended holiday services in nearby Furstenau. Hopsten, however, was nevertheless home to a mikveh, a shochet and a Jewish cemetery, the last of which was consecrated on Schapener Strasse in 1900. On Pogrom Night, the town’s remaining Jews (approximately 20) were forced to watch as SA troops from Ibbenbueren, accompanied by local “patriots,” ravaged their homes and businesses and assaulted several local Jews. The mob set the synagogue on fire, destroying the interior, after which a private resident purchased the site and demolished the ruins. Twelve Hopsten Jews perished in the Shoah. Today, the sole remaining evidence of Jewish life in Hopsten is the cemetery.

Author / Sources: Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
Sources: AH, LJG, SIA, YV