Jewish orphanage for the provinces of Westphalia and Rhineland

In the 1850s, Fanny Nathan (1803-1877) was moved by the desolate situation of Jewish orphans in the Paderborn region to found an orphanage for the province of Westphalia. On March 1, 1856, the institution opened in its building at Domplatz 14. As early as 1857, the catchment area was extended to the Rhineland. Due to the increasing number of children, the new Jüdische Waisenhaus für die Provinzen Westfalen und Rheinland“ was built at Leostraße 3, which the children moved into on August 1, 1863. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Jewish population entered a period of discrimination and marginalization that led to persecution and extermination. The "Nuremberg Laws" of 1935 ensured that the educational and teaching opportunities of young people were virtually excluded. The orphanage now saw its educational goal as promoting vocational training after release from the institution with a view to emigration.

In particular after the destruction of the synagogue in 1938 and the dissolution of the Jewish associations, the orphanage with its synagogue room became the religious center of the remaining Jewish community. Children and young people are increasingly prepared for emigration. After 1939, the orphanage was the last refuge before the deportations began, especially for children and older people who had been driven out of their homes and apartments as part of the "Aryanization measures".

Jews had been banned from emigrating since October 1941. As early as December 1941, the first signs of dissolution appeared in the orphanage, with some children leaving the facility. The remaining residents of the orphanage received the eviction notice on May 31, 1942. Some children and employees initially returned to their home towns, but most traveled to the horticultural school in Ahlem near Hanover, from where they were deported to ghettos or extermination camps.