Burgsteinfurt

Residential - Burgsteinfurt, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 1337; peak Jewish population: 227 in 1894; Jewish population in 1933: 117

The first Jewish community of Burgsteinfurt, numbering 109 members, disappeared after the Black Death persecutions of 1348/49. Jews did not return to Burgsteinfurt until 1662, when a new community was established there. Services were conducted in a makeshift synagogue (located in a private residence) until 1744, when the authorities finally permitted the Jewish community to build a synagogue. Completed in 1764, the building also housed an apartment for the teacher and a school, the latter of which taught children from many surrounding towns. In 1841, the school received official governmental recognition. Local Jews were proud of the fact that their town was home to two Jewish cemeteries and the largest matzo factory in Europe. On Pogrom Night, between 40 and 50 members of the Hitler Youth smashed the windows of the synagogue and ransacked the interior; the next day, the youths returned and proceeded to burn down the building, after which, two weeks later, the building was razed and the site cleared. At the site, which at the time of this writing was still vacant, a stone monument has been unveiled.

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	Burgsteinfurt
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Burgsteinfurt

First Jewish presence: 1337; peak Jewish population: 227 in 1894; Jewish population in 1933: 117

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.