First Jewish presence: 1371; peak Jewish population: 63 in 1871; Jewish population in 1933: unknown
The first available record of a Jewish presence in Hulchenrath (also known as Huelchrath) is dated 1371, when a Jew who had received a letter of protection resided there. We also know that, in 1685, another “protected Jew” was permitted to settle in the town. Forty-three Jews lived in Hulchenrath in 1806. Although the community was affiliated with that of Grevenbroich in or around 1858, local Jews continued to conduct services in a private residence. Finally, in 1875, the community inaugurated a new synagogue on Broichstrasse. In May 1928, not long after anti-Semitic rioters destroyed its furniture, the Broichstrasse synagogue was sold to a local resident. The building, however, was nevertheless damaged on Pogrom Night. Eight Huelchenrath Jews perished in the Shoah. Repaired in October 1951, the synagogue later accommodated a slaughterhouse and a sausage factory. A memorial plaque was affixed to one of the walls in 1988; and in 1998, three years after the town council took over the building, it was opened as a memorial and social hall.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 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., 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 24, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Category | Residential |
| Country | |
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| City | Huelchenrath (Huelchrath, Hülchrath) |
| Exhibits | Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany |
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