Goldap

Summary: Although Jewish merchants did business in this small East Prussian town (in today’s Poland) in the mid-1600s, it was not until the early 1800s that a Jewish community was founded there. The community consecrated a small synagogue on Schulstrasse in 1823 and—rare for a community of this size—two cemeteries: one in the early 1800s, the other in the late 1800s. Jewish-Christian relations began to deteriorate in the late 1920s; accordingly, many Goldap Jews either emigrated from or relocated within Germany. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue was set on fire, after which the building was razed. An obelisk on which a memorial plaque was affixed was later unveiled near the former synagogue site. The inscription on the plaque is in four languages: German, Polish, Hebrew and English.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: LJG
www.sztetl.org.pl