Elsdorf

Residential - Elsdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 1703; peak Jewish population: 68 in 1871; Jewish population in 1933: 43

The first available record of this community’s synagogue is dated 1820. We also know that on August 7, 1858, a new synagogue was inaugurated on 60-62 Koeln-Aachener- Strasse (formerly 133-135 Hauptstrasse). On Pogrom Night (November 9-10, 1938), the interior of the synagogue was ravaged, soon after which, on November 18, the heavily damaged building was sold. In 1944, the former synagogue was further damaged during a bombing raid. Between 1934 and 1939, 22 local Jews, including Jews from Berendorf, immigrated to the United States. The remaining Jews were moved into a house in Berendorf, from which, in October and December of 1941, several were deported to Lodz and Riga. In July 1942, the rest were deported to Theresienstadt. According to Yad Vashem, 40 Elsdorf Jews, some of whom had moved to other towns and cities in Germany, perished in the Shoah. The synagogue’s ruins were removed in 1954. At the site, now a parking lot, a memorial plaque commemorates the house of worship.

Esther Sarah Evans

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 14, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
City	Elsdorf
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Elsdorf

First Jewish presence: 1703; peak Jewish population: 68 in 1871; Jewish population in 1933: 43

Esther Sarah Evans

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

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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

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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.