Neheim

First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 103 in 1910; Jewish population in 1933: 62

The earliest reference to a Jewish presence in Neheim is dated 1651. The community conducted services in prayer rooms until 1876, when a synagogue was inaugurated on Mendener Strasse. Local Jews established a school in 1819 and a cemetery (near the Moehne-River) in 1835. The community—many members of which were businessmen and industrialists—was part of the Arnsberg regional congregation in 1854/55. Five Jewish children received religious instruction in 1933, and a Jewish women’s auxiliary association (founded in 1931) was active in the town. Later, in 1938, Jewish youths were expelled from the high school and forbidden to attend public dances. Between 1935 and 1939, 18 local Jews emigrated from Germany. On Pogrom Night, rioters destroyed the synagogue’s ritual objects, Torah scrolls and furniture. Neheim’s last Jewishowned shop was closed in December 1938. By 1941, the remaining Jews had been moved into a single house, from which they were collected for forced labor and, in 1943, deportation. At least 85 Jews from Neheim and nearby Huesten perished in the Shoah. Yad Vashem’s records for Neheim include the Jewish populations of Neheim, Huesten, and Neheim-Huesten, making it difficult to determine how many of the deceased were actually from Neheim. Used as a storage site after 1945, the synagogue was renovated in the 1980s and, in 1982, declared a listed monument. A plaque has been affixed to the building, which is now owned by a local association.

Heidemarie Wawrzyn

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

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