Uerdingen

Residential - Uerdingen, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 14th century; peak Jewish population: 79 in 1848; Jewish population in 1933: 31

Uerdingen, which is now a municipality of Krefeld, was once home to an independent Jewish congregation. We know little about the community’s origins, but records do tell us that Jews were persecuted in Uerdingen during the Black Death pogroms of 1348/49. Records also suggest that communal life was re-established in the early 19th century. In 1841, the Jewish community established a synagogue in the rear section of a building at 6 Bruchstrasse. When Uerdingen was annexed to Krefeld, local Jews actively protested, arguing that their community’s observant members would not be able to walk the greater distance to the synagogue. Their petition was rejected, however, and in 1854 the Uerdingen Jewish community was affiliated with that of Krefeld. On the night of November 9, 1938 (Pogrom Night) the interior of the local Uerdingen synagogue was ravaged and the equipment and furniture were set on fire in the marketplace; several sources claimed that the synagogue was torn down. At the former synagogue building, which has been used as a residence since 1939, a memorial plaque has been unveiled.

Ruth Martina Trucks

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

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Uerdingen

First Jewish presence: 14th century; peak Jewish population: 79 in 1848; Jewish population in 1933: 31

Ruth Martina Trucks

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.