Cologne-Ehrenfeld

First Jewish presence: 1860; peak Jewish population: 2,000 in 1927; Jewish population in 1933: 1,167

The suburban community of Ehrenfeld expanded rapidly during the second half of the 19th century. Beginning in 1880, religious services were conducted in a prayer hall attached to the classrooms on Rohenhauserstrasse. Later, in 1908, the Jews of Ehrenfeld inaugurated a new synagogue with a seating capacity of 350 (200 men and 150 women) and a mikveh; an additional prayer hall, established for the benefit of the many Polish Jews who had moved to Ehrenfeld, was added to the synagogue in 1927. The community, an affiliate of Cologne, also maintained an old-age home with an adjacent synagogue. Although the congregation had largely dispersed by November 1938, and although the committee had attempted to sell the synagogue earlier that year, the house of worship was broken into on Pogrom Night; after destroying the benches and almemor, the rioters burned down the building. In 1941/42, the old-age home (it had been spared on Pogrom Night) served as a temporary ghetto from which Jews were eventually deported. The building was later damaged heavily by Allied bombing. The synagogue in the old-age home was rebuilt and re-consecrated in 1945. In 1949, a new synagogue was built near the old synagogue site, the latter of which is commemorated by a memorial stone.

Harold Slutzkin

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

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