Saarburg

First Jewish presence: 1327; peak Jewish population: 35 in 1895 or 40 in 1933 (see below); Jewish population in 1933: 40 (see below)

The population figure for 1895 includes only those Jews who lived in Saarburg; that for 1933 probably includes Jews from nearby Beurig and Wiltingen. Jews were expelled from Saarburg in 1418/19, and it was not until the 17th century that records once again mention a Jewish presence there. It was during the 17th century, too, that the community consecrated a cemetery, which also served the Jews of Wavern, at Saarburg-Neuderleuken; the last burial took place there in 1936. The Jews of Saarburg were associated with the Jewish community of Freudenburg until 1849, when they established their own prayer hall. We also know that in 1885, local Jews acquired a three-story house on an der Leuk, the first floor of which served as a synagogue. On Pogrom Night, rioters vandalized the synagogue building and set its interior on fire. Little is known about the fate of Saarburg’s remaining Jews. Saarburg is no longer home to a Jewish community. The dilapidated synagogue building was torn down in 1962; and in 1982, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the site.

Benjamin Rosendahl

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ germansynagogues.bh.org.il

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