Hattingen

Residential - Hattingen, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 1400; peak Jewish population: 104 in 1924; Jewish population in 1933: 73

Jews settled in Hattingen in 1400 and lived there peacefully for nearly a century; in 1498, they were prohibited from living in the town. It was not until the early 1800s that this ban was rescinded, as a result of which a proper Jewish community was established in Hattingen. In 1816, this community built a synagogue, a cemetery and a school. The growth of the Jewish population necessitated the construction of a new synagogue. With the help of a local philanthropist who covered the costs of construction, a new synagogue was built in less than a year and inaugurated in 1872. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was incinerated, but not before the rioters had vandalized the building. As the fire department was under no pressure to respond, several nearby homes also caught fire. The building’s ruins were removed in late 1939. Two memorial plaques—one is located near the former synagogue site, the other at the cemetery—have been unveiled in Hattingen.

Moshe Finkel

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

Notes

Sources: 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	Hattingen
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Hattingen

First Jewish presence: 1400; peak Jewish population: 104 in 1924; Jewish population in 1933: 73

Moshe Finkel

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.