Hopsten

Residential - Hopsten, North Rhine-Westphalia

First Jewish presence: 1817; peak Jewish population: 25 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 22

The Jews of Hopsten initially conducted services in a prayer room on Marktstrasse; the congregants were presumably Orthodox, for women and men used different entrances and were separated by a wooden trellis during the service. Often unable to gather enough men for a minyan, this tiny community (an affiliate of Ibbenbueren) attended holiday services in nearby Furstenau. Hopsten, however, was nevertheless home to a mikveh, a shochet and a Jewish cemetery, the last of which was consecrated on Schapener Strasse in 1900. On Pogrom Night, the town’s remaining Jews (approximately 20) were forced to watch as SA troops from Ibbenbueren, accompanied by local “patriots,” ravaged their homes and businesses and assaulted several local Jews. The mob set the synagogue on fire, destroying the interior, after which a private resident purchased the site and demolished the ruins. Twelve Hopsten Jews perished in the Shoah. Today, the sole remaining evidence of Jewish life in Hopsten is the cemetery.

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

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

Notes

Sources: Ashkenaz House, www.ashkenazhouse.org/synagogue-main.htm Lexikon der jüdischen Gemeinde in Deutschen Sprachraum, Klaus Dieter-Alicke, [publisher] Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2008., Synagogen Internet Archiv, www.synagogen.info , Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/IY_HON_Entrance

Details

Date Added	Feb 21, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
City	Hopsten
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Hopsten

First Jewish presence: 1817; peak Jewish population: 25 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 22

Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

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.