First Jewish presence: mid-1600s; peak Jewish population: 100 in the early 1800s; Jewish population in 1933: unknown
Although Jewish merchants did business in this small East Prussian town (in today’s Poland) in the mid-1600s, it was not until the early 1800s that a Jewish community was founded there. The community consecrated a small synagogue on Schulstrasse in 1823 and—rare for a community of this size—two cemeteries: one in the early 1800s, the other in the late 1800s. Jewish-Christian relations began to deteriorate in the late 1920s; accordingly, many Goldap Jews either emigrated from or relocated within Germany. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue was set on fire, after which the building was razed. An obelisk on which a memorial plaque was affixed was later unveiled near the former synagogue site. The inscription on the plaque is in four languages: German, Polish, Hebrew and English.Moshe Finkel
Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ germansynagogues.bh.org.il
Notes
Sources: Lexikon der jüdischen Gemeinde in Deutschen Sprachraum, Klaus Dieter-Alicke, [publisher] Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2008., sztetl.org.pl
Details
| Date Added | May 20, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Category | Residential |
| Country | PL |
| State | Warmia-Masuria |
| City | Gołdap (Goldap) |
| Exhibits | Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany |
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