Gemen

Residential - Gemen, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 16th century; peak Jewish population: 40 in 1880s; Jewish population in 1933: 39

Jews settled in Gemen after their expulsion from the archbishopric of Muenster in 1560. The community established a prayer room at 92 Loewenstein (a residence) in the early 19th century; although the house was destroyed by fire in 1864, it was quickly rebuilt and used for another 50 years. In 1912, an Art Nouveau-style synagogue of Orthodox orientation was inaugurated on Ahauserstrasse. Other communal institutions included a mikveh (located in a private residence on Rohrig) and a Jewish cemetery on Otto- Hahn-Strasse, the latter of which was consecrated in 1810. In 1935, during a synagogue service, worshippers were attacked by Austrian members of the Nazi Party who were stationed near Gemen. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), SA men set the synagogue on fire, destroying the interior and roof. The ruins were demolished in 1943. By 1939, 32 Jews had left Gemen. According to records, 26 local Jews perished in the Shoah. A memorial stone was unveiled at the former synagogue site in 1988. Oskar Loewenstein, co-founder of the Association for the Safeguarding of Traditional Judaism in Westphalia, was a native of Gemen.

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., Feuer in dein Heiligtum gelegt: Zerstörte Synagogen 1938 Nordrhein-Westfalen, Michael Brooke [Ed.], Meier Schwarz [foreword], [publisher] Kamp, 1999.

Details

Date Added	Feb 19, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
City	Gemen
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Gemen

First Jewish presence: 16th century; peak Jewish population: 40 in 1880s; Jewish population in 1933: 39

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.