Kleve

First Jewish presence: 1242; peak Jewish population: 185 in 1880; Jewish population in 1933: 151 or 158

The first available record of a Jewish presence in Kleve is from the 14th century, but records suggest that Jews lived there as early as 1242. The Black Death pogroms of 1348/49 resulted in the murder or expulsion of Kleve’s Jews, and it was only after the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) that Jews returned to the town. The new arrivals were associated with the Gomperz banking family, members of which founded the community and built its first synagogue. The community conducted services in the Gomperz family home (on Wasserstrasse) until 1670, when Elias Gomperz build a synagogue and mikveh on Gerwin. On August 24, 1821, a new synagogue was inaugurated on Reitbahn, next to the Schwanenburg castle on the outskirts of town; at some point after the 1820s, a Jewish school was established in the building. Kleve’s Jewish cemetery was located on Koekkoekstege (present-day Ernst-Goldschmidt-Strasse). In Kleve, local churches applauded the Nazis’ rise to power. Most Jewish-owned businesses were forced to shut down soon after the Nazis began enforcing their boycott of Jewish stores and establishments. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), SS men incinerated the synagogue, looted Jewish homes and tore tombstones from Jewish graves. In 1939, only 50 Jews lived in Kleve; the last 30 were deported to Riga, Lodz and Theresienstadt between 1941 and 1943. At least 50 local Jews were murdered by the Nazis. A memorial plaque was later unveiled at the former synagogue site.

Benjamin Rosendahl

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

---