Kuchenheim

Summary: This community’s prayer room, which was established in or around 1768, functioned intermittently until the 1930s. Jewish children studied religion in the home of a local Jewish merchant until 1840; we also know that the house was rebuilt in 1857. The small synagogue was vandalized on Pogrom Night. Later, in 1941, Kuchenheim’s remaining seven Jews were deported. In June of that year, the head of the town council reported to the local government that: “The re-settlement of Jews has been completed, none remain.” The synagogue building was destroyed in 1945, after which a new building was erected on the site. A section from the synagogue’s bay windows—the only trace of the destroyed house of worship—was incorporated into the new structure. As of this writing, a memorial has never been erected in Kuchenheim.

Author / Sources: Harold Slutzkin
Sources: SG-NRW, SIA