Euskirchen-Flamersheim

First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 95 in 1911; Jewish population in 1933: unknown (62 in 1932)

Beginning in the 17th century, members of Flamersheim’s Jewish community conducted religious services with the Jews of neighboring Kirchheim and Schwanheim. Although records do not tell us when it was built, we do know that a prayer room at 118 Puetzgasse served the community until the 1850s. Finally, in 1876, a synagogue with room for 60 worshipers was inaugurated in Flamersheim. The Jewish cemetery, located near the road between Flamersheim and Kirchheim, was consecrated at some point before 1790 and enlarged in the 1850s. No more than 30 tombstones are still intact, for the cemetery was largely destroyed during the Nazi period. On Pogrom Night, SA and SS men destroyed the interior of synagogue and stole ritual objects, soon after which, in 1939, the building was demolished. Saved from the destruction, the Torah scrolls are now on display in Ra’anana, Israel. Deportations to the East included 22 local Jews, of whom at least 12 are known to have perished in the Shoah. Joseph Weiss, a “camp elder” at Bergen-Belsen, was born in Flamersheim. Flamersheim became a district of the city of Euskirchen in 1969. In 1984, a wrought iron memorial was unveiled at Flamersheim’s historic marketplace.

Beate Grosz-Wenker

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

---