Muenstereifel

Summary: The Jews of Muenstereifel were recognized as a fully independent community in 1919, prior to which (after 1847), as a semi-independent community, Muenstereifel had been part of the regional Jewish community of Rheinbach. Records from 1468 tell us that the Jews of Muenstereifel conducted burials in the regional cemetery. In 1660, a prayer hall was established at 17, Orchheimerstrasse. Much later, in 1877, a local Jew purchased that house and demanded rent from those who frequented the prayer hall; most refused to pay, and a new prayer hall was opened at 41 Stumpfgasse. In 1880, however, the community purchased the Orchheimerstrasse house and established a synagogue there: the building accommodated 36 seats for men, 29 for women, a Jewish school and a teacher’s apartment. Two ritual baths existed in private residences. We also know that the community maintained a Jewish school intermittently between 1824 and 1875, after which a teacher of religion—he also served as chazzan and shochet— instructed children in religion. Muenstereifel’s modern Jewish cemetery, officially consecrated in 1823, was enlarged in 1876 and again in 1930. In 1933, five schoolchildren received religious instruction. Two chevra kadisha organizations (one for men, the other for women) were active in the community, with which the Jews of Arloff and Kirspenich were affiliated. On Pogrom Night, the interior of the Muenstereifel synagogue was destroyed. Jewish homes and businesses were vandalized, the cemetery was desecrated and one Jew was assaulted. The synagogue building was sold in 1939. Fifteen Muenstereifel Jews emigrated and others relocated within Germany. The 15 Jews who still lived there in 1941 were sent to a nearby camp from which they were deported to the East in 1942. At least 57 local Jews perished in the Shoah. The Jewish cemetery, renovated between the years 1946 and 1961, contains a memorial plaque; the cemetery was desecrated in 1971. Muenstereifel’s former synagogue was demolished in 1970; a commemorative plaque has been unveiled at the site.

Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: EJL, FJG, HZER, DGJLN