Gangelt

Residential - Gangelt, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 63 in 1857; Jewish population in 1933: 40

By 1750, most Gangelt Jews had established themselves as cattle traders and sellers of agricultural products. Beginning in 1810 or 1820, local Jews conducted prayer services in a small brick synagogue on Heinsberger Strasse. In 1824, the synagogue was desecrated—the vandals stole the Torah scrolls—after which the building was renovated and reconsecrated. The Jewish community of Gangelt was affiliated with the district communities of Geilenkirchen, Heinsberg and Erkelenz in 1847. Burials were conducted in Heinsberg’s old cemetery until 1877, when a Jewish cemetery was consecrated at Am Wirtsberg in Gangelt; the new cemetery, located at some distance from the town, was in use until 1937. On Pogrom Night, members of the Nazi Party destroyed the interior of the synagogue. The building was sold to a private buyer in 1940. At least nine members of the Gangelt Jewish community perished in the Shoah. The former synagogue site was placed under a preservation order in 1993. At the cemetery, 31 extant tombstones were vandalized in 2010.

Beate Grosz-Wenker

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., Lexikon der jüdischen Gemeinde in Deutschen Sprachraum, Klaus Dieter-Alicke, [publisher] Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2008., Feuer in dein Heiligtum gelegt: Zerstörte Synagogen 1938 Nordrhein-Westfalen, Michael Brooke [Ed.], Meier Schwarz [foreword], [publisher] Kamp, 1999.

Details

Date Added	Feb 17, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
City	Gangelt
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Gangelt

First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 63 in 1857; Jewish population in 1933: 40

Beate Grosz-Wenker

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.