Angermuende

Summary: Prior to 1815, when Angermuende’s Jewish community established a synagogue in a barn on 56 Klosterstrasse (present-day 10 Klosterstrasse), religious gatherings took place in merchant Abraham Jonas’ home on 65 Rosenstrasse. The synagogue was enlarged in 1865 and crowned with a dome, but it was, ironically, around this time that many Jews from Angermuende decided to leave for larger cities. In or around 1743, the community engaged a teacher of religion. Angermuende’s Jewish cemetery was opened after an outbreak of an epidemic in 1709 made it unsafe to transport the dead to Shweedt or Odenburg. The community mikveh was located at 1 Bruederstrasse until the building was deemed unsafe in 1910. Jews were exposed to relentless humiliation and extortion after 1933. On Pogrom Night, Jewish homes were wrecked, furniture was thrown out of windows and the synagogue was burned to the ground. The cemetery was also desecrated, its tombstones stolen. Forty-one Angermuende Jews perished in the Shoah. As of this writing, a memorial plaque to the former Jewish community has never been unveiled in Angermuende.

Author / Sources: Ruth Martina Trucks; Sources EJL, LJG, YV