Duesseldorf-Benrath
Summary:
According to a Duesseldorf address book, 22 Jews lived in
Benrath in 1903 (Benrath became a district of Duesseldorf
in 1929). The Jewish community of Benrath-Hilden-
Himmelgeist-Urdenbach was affiliated with the synagogue
district of Duesseldorf.
At some point in the 1890s, the community inaugurated
a synagogue at 11 Friedhofstrasse; the brick building had
three rounded side windows and a seating capacity of 35.
Records suggest that the synagogue was not used after 1929,
when the community became part of the one in Duesseldorf.
On Pogrom Night (November 9-10, 1938), the synagogue
was ravaged and burned down; although it is clear that the
SA planned and carried out the violence, the press described
it as a spontaneous act on the part of the local population. In
Benrath, the destruction of Jewish homes and businesses was
thorough: the Stern family home—their business had earlier
been “aryanized”—was ravaged, and Alex Stern was arrested.
A Mrs. Heumann was forced to watch as SA men and local
residents destroyed and plundered her family business; at the
Steinberg family home, furniture and goods were thrown out
the windows; and a Mr. Samuel, after donning the uniform
and decorations of his service in World War I, seated himself in
the window of his shop. The next day, on November 10, Jewish
possessions were burned in the marketplace. The destruction was
so thorough that no Jewish shop was able to resume business.
The Jewish community, which was ordered to remove
the “unsightly” synagogue ruins, was unable to complete
the job within the deadline. The job was then given to the
Christian residents of 9 and 13 Friedhofstrasse, but this time
without a deadline.
At the former synagogue site, a memorial plaque was later
unveiled. We do not know how many Benrath Jews perished
in the Shoah, but Yad Vashem records tell us that two were
murdered in Sobibor, one in Amersfoort (in the Netherlands)
and one in Theresienstadt.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: SG-NRW, SIA, YV
www.spilles.de/nsprojekt/juden/pogrom.htm
Sources: SG-NRW, SIA, YV
www.spilles.de/nsprojekt/juden/pogrom.htm
Located in: north-rhine-westphalia