Salzhemmendorf

First Jewish presence: late 17th century; peak Jewish population: 30 in 1885; Jewish population in 1933: 6

The Jewish community of Salzhemmendorf, established in 1843, included Jews from several neighboring communities. In 1885, when this tiny community recorded its peak population figure, most local Jews were cattle dealers, horse dealers or peddlers. Salzhemmendorf ’s Jewish cemetery was consecrated on Limberger Strasse in 1810. (Most of the neighboring communities maintained their own prayer rooms and cemeteries.) In 1848, the Salzhemmendorf Jewish community replaced an older prayer room (located in a private residence) with a synagogue on the upper floor of a residence on Kampstrasse; the building also housed a mikveh, a school and an apartment for a teacher. We also know that in 1868, the community’s chevra kadisha was dissolved. In 1933, six Jews still lived in Salzhemmendorf (there were similar numbers in the associated communities). As a result of intensifying persecution and boycotts, many of Jews left during the following years. On Pogrom Night, Jewish properties were vandalized and looted. Although the mayor prevented the synagogue being set on fire, the building’s interior and windows were destroyed by members of the SA and SS. In 1938/39, the building was sold to a farmer who used it as a pigsty. The remaining Jews were deported to camps in the early 1940s. At least eight Jews from Salzhemmendorf and from the surrounding communities died in the Shoah. The Salzhemmendorf cemetery was restored after the war, but was vandalized in 1955.

Heike Zaun Goshen

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

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