Dillingen an der Saar

First Jewish presence: 1800; peak Jewish population: unknown; Jewish population in 1933: 135

The Jews of Dillingen belonged to the Diefflen community until 1929, when Dillingen became an independent Jewish community. In 1927, 122 Jews lived in Dillingen. During the mid-19th century, local Jews attended synagogue services in Diefflen. Services were later conducted in a private residence, but we do not know when the community decided to congregate there. Records do tell us, however, that a proper synagogue was inaugurated in Dillingen in 1924. In 1933, 27 schoolchildren studied religion under the guidance of a teacher/chazzan. Three charity associations were active in the community, with which the Jews of Nalbach and Pachtlen were affiliated. In December 1934, a Jewish councilman was voted out of office on the pretext that he had missed some meetings. Most Jews left Dillingen after the Saarland region was incorporated into the German Reich in 1935, and the community was disbanded later that year, when only 11 Jews of voting age still lived in the town. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was burned down, the remaining 14 Jews were assaulted, one of whom was brutally beaten with a hammer, and Jewish homes were vandalized. A Jewish piano merchant was forced to watch hammer-wielding rioters destroy his pianos, after which his home and business were destroyed.

Nurit Borut

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

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