First Jewish presence: 1565; peak Jewish population: 145 in 1808; Jewish population in 1933: 62
The Jewish population of Guetersloh did not experience considerable growth until 1671. Community records tell us that, in 1721, local Jews established a prayer room in a private house and consecrated a cemetery. This arrangement sufficed until 1765, when the Jewish community was granted permission to build a proper synagogue. For this purpose, a modest building, which also housed a school, was established in Guetersloh; the school, however, was not opened until 1799. Later, when additional space became necessary, a separate school building was built alongside the synagogue. On Pogrom Night, SS men set the synagogue on fire. The caretaker and her son, who were in the building when the SS arrived, barely escaped death. In 1940, the Jewish community was forced to pay for the demolition of the building. Today, a new building stands on the site. A small memorial plaque has been unveiled nearby.Moshe Finkel
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., Synagogen Internet Archiv, www.synagogen.info
Details
| Date Added | Feb 20, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Category | Residential |
| Country | DE |
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| City | Guetersloh (Gütersloh) |
| Exhibits | Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany |
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