Jüdischer Niederrhein

On the initiative of the then Lord Mayor Dieter Pützhofen and 
of the Jewish community had been 1998 the association donation Dr. Isidor 
. Hirschfelder had been founded. This association had and has among other things the 
Task to establish a Jewish community center in Krefeld, the 
Jewish culture in the Lower Rhine to promote and the Jewish history at the
 Lower Rhine to promote.

The reconstruction of Gladbach's Jewish community began as early as the summer of 1945. The driving force behind this was Kurt Hecht, who returned to his homeland after his imprisonment in a concentration camp in Mechelen and became chairman of the community for many years.

The Jewish community of Mönchengladbach today also includes the districts of Viersen, Erkelenz, Heinsberg and Grevenbroich. By the end of the 1960s, the community had grown to 120 people. Due to the influx of many Jews from the former Soviet territories in the 1990s, the community continued to grow. 

The first mention of the old Jewish cemetery on Heideckerstrasse dates back to 1723. The Jewish community had initially leased the site before acquiring it in 1744 through the then community leader Hertz Levi.

Already in the course of the 18th century- or at the beginning of the 19th century, the first extensions of the cemetery took place. In 1854, the next expansion took place with the acquisition of the land adjacent to the north side of the burial ground.

Sometime between the years 1883 and 1889, the burial hall, which still stands today, was built in the cemetery.

Around 1900, the Jewish cemetery on Heideckstraße was completely occupied, so that the Jewish community acquired a plot of land for a new burial ground next to the municipal cemetery in Alte Gladbacher Straße. On this younger Jewish cemetery is buried since 1903 until today still.

Already in 1945, extensive restorations of the Jewish cemetery began. Many stolen gravestones and sculptures could be retrieved. However with many stones to this day still no data could be chiseled in again, since no data were to be procured.

The older Jewish cemetery in Krefeld Hüls was probably occupied since the 17th century. It was located on the former Moersische Straße, today's Klever Straße. Buried here until the year 1890, after which the younger Jewish cemetery was created at the Strathof.

Due to National Socialist pressure, the Jewish community was forced to sell the plot of the burial ground in 1937.

Today, neither the former burial ground nor the gravestones have been preserved.

The Hirsch shoe store was founded by Moritz Hirsch before World War I and was originally located in the family's own house at Hochstraße 50. When Moritz Hirsch died in 1927, his widow Meta Hirsch needed the support of their son Rudolf Hirsch to continue the business. He was only 20 years old at the time. He moved the business to a rented store at Hochstraße 130. Even during the Great Depression, the shoe business was still expanding and employed 30 people. Nevertheless, the company had to contend with sales losses.

Franz-August Heeder and his nephew Wilhelm Niemann had already founded a wallpaper and oilcloth factory in 1860. The business address was Bäkerpfad 1, today's Virchowstraße 130. In 1882, the Jewish merchant David Devries joined the company as a co-partner. The company was dissolved in 1888, but was re-established by Devries at the same location only one year later. Devries also retained the original company name "Heeder & Co"

In 1898, the company "Markus Meyer Kartonfabrik Krefeld" was entered in the local commercial register as a letterpress, paper and cardboard wholesaler by Markus Meyer. Over the years, it became the most important family business in its sector in the wide area of the city. In 1927, a large new building was erected for the company at today's Philadelphiastrasse 146-150. It also housed apartments for employees. The building still stands today. 

In August 1879, the Jewish textile merchant Leonhard Tietz opened a textile store in Stralsund that was just 25m² in size. From this, the large and prestigious department store chain "Leonhard Tietz AG" was to emerge in the coming decades. The largest department store group in Germany was also located in Krefeld on the corner of Friedrichstraße and St. Anton Straße from 1904. With 43 locations throughout Germany, the Jewish company employed around 15,000 people. 

Alexander Kamp came to the city shortly after the synagogue was built on the corner of Marktstraße and Petersstraße and set up his business on Petersstraße with his brother Adolf. They sold hides and casings for butcher shops. At the end of the 1870s, he and his business moved to the acquired and larger house on Petersstraße 51-53. Alexander Kamp retired in 1896.