Borghorst

Residential - Borghorst, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 1818; peak Jewish population: 194 in 1924; Jewish population in 1933: 100

Jews settled in Borghorst in 1818 and attended the synagogues of the neighboring Jewish communities until 1854, when the Jews of Borghorst decided to build their own synagogue. The Borghorst synagogue was inaugurated in 1867, after years of planning. Not much, however, is known about the community or its house of worship. The only reliable eyewitness to the unfolding of Pogrom Night in Borghorst was the local priest, who reported that on the night of November 9, 1938, SA and SS men stormed the synagogue and set it on fire. Everything went up in flames: Torah scrolls, books, furniture and pictures. The SA and SS also broke into Jewish homes and businesses, smashing everything in their path. Little, in fact, of Jewish Borghorst was left intact. The heavily damaged synagogue building was later torn down. An apartment building was built on the site, and we also know that in 1965, a memorial plaque was unveiled there.

Moshe Finkel

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

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 11, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
City	Borghorst
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Borghorst

First Jewish presence: 1818; peak Jewish population: 194 in 1924; Jewish population in 1933: 100

Moshe Finkel

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

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.