Erkelenz
General information: First Jewish presence: 1852; peak Jewish population: unknown; Jewish population in 1933: unknown
Summary:
In 1852, a Jewish tanner named Jacob Kaufman settled in
Erkelenz. Within nine years, the Jewish population was 18.
Use of the community’s first synagogue, built on Oerather
Strasse in 1862, was short-lived, for in 1869 the Jews of
Erkelenz inaugurated a new synagogue on Patersgasse (also
accessed from Westpromenade). An aerial photograph shows
a saddle-roofed, brick building of 28 by 26 square feet. In
Erkelenz, a Jewish cemetery was consecrated on Neusser
Strasse.
In April 1933, the boycott of Jewish-owned business
was implemented in Erkelenz. Later, on Pogrom Night
(November 1938), SS and SA men demolished the synagogue
and Jewish homes. According to an eyewitness who was then
eight years old, Jews who attempted to enter the synagogue
and rescue the books and ritual objects were arrested, never
to be seen again. Between 30 and 40 Jews lived in Erkelenz at the beginning
of World War II. On April 1, 1941, the remaining Jews were
forcibly moved from so-called “Jews’ Houses” to Spiesshof (in
Hetzerath), from where they were deported to concentration
camps, via the Izbica ghetto, in 1942. At least 44 Erkelenz
Jews perished in the Shoah.
Only two Jews (a married couple) returned to Erkelenz
after the Shoah. At the synagogue site, now a restaurant, one
can still discern sections of what was once the back wall.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: SG-NRW, YV
Sources: SG-NRW, YV
Located in: north-rhine-westphalia