Wormditt

First Jewish presence: in or around the year 1800; peak Jewish population: 174 in 1871; Jewish population in 1933: 45

The Jewish community of the town of Wormditt (Orneta in today’s Poland) was founded in in or around 1800. Communal institutions included a cemetery on Krickhausener Strasse (consecrated in 1806) and a synagogue on Liebstaedter Strasse (established in the mid-19th century), the latter of which was replaced by a new house of worship in the late 1800s. In June 1933, 45 Jews lived in Wormditt; seven children received religious instruction from a teacher who also served as chazzan and shochet. A chevra kadisha (founded in 1843) and a Jewish women’s association provided services and support for the indigent. In April 1935, the synagogue was smeared with anti- Semitic slogans, as were Jewish homes and stores. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue’s interior was looted; although the building was set on fire, the blaze was extinguished. Most local Jews had left Wormditt by the end of the 1930s. In 1941, the remaining Jews were forcibly moved to Allenstein, from where they were later deported to the camps. At least eight Wormditt Jews were murdered in the Shoah.

Heidemarie Wawrzyn

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

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