Jüdischer Niederrhein

In 1768, a Jewish cemetery on Venloerstraße in Dülken was mentioned for the first time. Until the year 1873 burials took place here. In the same year, the newer Jewish cemetery was then opened on Kampweg.

In 1938, the cemetery site was sold to a company. Today, the site, which is designed as a green space, is owned by the city.

In 1749 the Jewish cemetery was established on the Heidweg. It replaced an older cemetery, which can no longer be located today. Originally, the cemetery grounds were surrounded by a rampart. However, this was destroyed during a cemetery desecration in 1769.

The last burial took place here in 1931. There were also several desecrations of the burial ground during the National Socialist rule.

Since 1853 the Jewish burial ground of Viersen was located on the Florastraße. Buried here was until the year 1906. When the Jewish community 1907 by the city a part of the municipal cemetery had been handed over, went in compensation the part of the older Jewish cemetery, on which until then no burials had taken place, into the municipal possession.

Today there is a green area here. No gravestones have been preserved. A memorial stone reminds of the former Jewish cemetery. It can be assumed that the former burial ground was larger than today's lawn.

In 1812, the Jewish community in Süchteln built its prayer room on the second floor at Hindenburgstraße 3. The private house was located directly next to the Protestant church.

During the November pogroms, the building was not set on fire because there was a barbershop on the first floor owned by non-Jewish owners. Nevertheless, the prayer room was completely destroyed.

Through the donation of a wealthy Dülken Jew, the Jewish community was able to build a prayer room in 1781 in premises in the backyard of the house on the corner of Lange Straße and Domhof. This prayer room replaced an older prayer room, which is documented since the 1680s, but can no longer be located today.

The prayer room was used by the Jewish community until the ceremonial dedication of the newly built synagogue in 1898.

In the summer of 1898, the synagogue was solemnly consecrated in the former Bahnhofstraße, today's Martin-Luther-Straße.

The brick building, which had been constructed from a mixture of the neo-Islamic and Romanesque styles, was located directly opposite a Protestant church and was a popular motif on picture postcards of the city.

During the November pogroms, the synagogue was set on fire. The inventory was destroyed. The Protestant pastor Wilhelm Veit saved one of the Torah scrolls that night. This is now in the Jewish community center in Krefeld.

The house Rektoratstraße 10 was acquired by the Jewish community in 1862. The building served different purposes. In the basement was the Jewish school. The private school was nationalized in 1905. It existed until 1932, when the last Jewish teacher - Israel Nussbaum - retired.

On the second floor of the building, the Jewish community built a prayer hall, which existed until the expropriation of the property around 1939/1940. The building passed into municipal ownership.

In 1907 David Katzenstein rented the commercial building on Hauptstraße 137/139 from the company Pongs and Zahn. In the same year, the Katzenstein fashion and textile store opened. The opening had previously been publicized by a large newspaper campaign. In 1919, Katzenstein acquired the building.

See description of the Rheydt synagogue.

See description of the synagogue.