Bedburdyck

Residential - Bedburdyck, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 1664; peak Jewish population: 81 in 1853; Jewish population in 1933: 24

When Jews arrived in the village of Bedburdyck in 1664, they were surprised to find that they were welcome there. The community built its first synagogue in 1800; the mayor once boasted that it had been in existence “for as long as anybody can remember.” The synagogue was destroyed in the violence following the Neuenhoven blood libel of 1834. A massive effort to rebuild it was launched, and in 1837 the new synagogue was completed. Due to a lack of funds, it was a small, poorly constructed building: The windows were of plain, rather than stained, glass, the furnishings were crude and a plain red cloth was used for the Torah curtain. On Pogrom Night, SA men destroyed the building quickly and easily. We also know that the Torah scrolls and prayer books were torn and strewn in the street. Today, the former synagogue site accommodates a park. A memorial plaque was unveiled on the City Hall lawn, directly across the street from the former synagogue site.

Moshe Finkel

Notes

Sources: Lexikon der jüdischen Gemeinde in Deutschen Sprachraum, Klaus Dieter-Alicke, [publisher] Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2008., Feuer in dein Heiligtum gelegt: Zerstörte Synagogen 1938 Nordrhein-Westfalen, Michael Brooke [Ed.], Meier Schwarz [foreword], [publisher] Kamp, 1999., Synagogen Internet Archiv, www.synagogen.info

Details

Date Added	Feb 10, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
City	Bedburdyck
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

Have additional information, photos, connections, or other resources to contribute?

Help Us in the race against time to time document Jewish history!

Bedburdyck

First Jewish presence: 1664; peak Jewish population: 81 in 1853; Jewish population in 1933: 24

Moshe Finkel

Notes

Details

Have additional information, photos, connections, or other resources to contribute?

Jason Guberman

Executive Director

Jason Guberman-P., A social entrepreneur who specializes in building broad coalitions and melding intellectual and technical innovation, serves as founding Executive Director of Digital Heritage Mapping and is the coordinator of the Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life.

Joshua Shamsi

Project Director

Joshua Shamsi, is Project Director for the Atlas of Jewish Life and Lead Photographer/Outreach Director for the Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life.

Eddie Ashkenazie

Researcher

Eddie Ashkenazie, is a Yeshiva University PhD student focusing his studies on the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in the modern era.

Avital Hirsch

Avital Hirsch graduated Magna Cum Laude from Binghamton University with a BA in language and linguistics. She has studied in Rome at Istituto Lorenzo de Medici.

Glenn Dynner

Editor

Glenn Dynner. Professor of Religion, Sarah Lawrence College. BA, Brandeis University. MA, McGill University. PhD, Brandeis University. Scholar of East European Jewry with a focus on the social history of Hasidism and the Haskalah.

Chrystie Sherman

Photographer

Born in Chicago, Chrystie Sherman was educated at the University of Vermont, the University of Paris, and New York University Graduate School of Film and Television.

Gentian Xhaxiu

Researcher

Gentian Xhaxhiu, was born in Tirana, Albania, in April 1988. He has attained a Master Degree in “EU Business Law” and has successfully completed the Annual Programme of the School of Political Studies of the Council of Europe.