Breyell

Residential - Breyell, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: mid-19th century; peak Jewish population: 44 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 26

In 1899, the 18 Jews of Breyell formed a synagogue association in cooperation with Jews from neighboring towns. Breyell’s Jewish population steadily increased (44 in 1905), in response to which the community inaugurated a new synagogue on October 21, 1910. Very little is known about this small Jewish community. An extant photograph of the synagogue, however, shows an ornate, neo-Romanesque building with many bow-shaped windows. According to a report issued in connection to the War Reparation Act of 1952, the Breyell synagogue was destroyed on Pogrom Night. Records suggest that Jakob Klaber, a cattle trader, purchased the synagogue site, after which, faced with the expense of removing the rubble, he sold the site to the Breyell municipality for 300 Reichsmarks. The War Reparation report also states that 26 local Jews (the entire Jewish population of 1933) perished in the Shoah. As of this writing, no memorial has been erected in Breyell.

Moshe Finkel

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

Notes

Sources: The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, Shmuel Spector [Ed.], [publisher] Yad Vashem and the New York University Press, 2001., 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	Breyell
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Breyell

First Jewish presence: mid-19th century; peak Jewish population: 44 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 26

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.