Saarlouis
General information: First Jewish presence: 1685; peak Jewish population: 480 in 1925; Jewish population in 1933: 364
Summary: The earliest record of a Jewish presence in Saarlouis
is dated 1685. Although many of the town’s
Jewish-owned business were attacked and severely
damaged after the decision was made (in 1919) to
place the Saarland region under the auspices of the
League of Nations, Saarlouis’ Jewish community
continued to grow and peaked in 1925.
Jews conducted services in prayer rooms
until 1828, when the community inaugurated
a synagogue, with a mikveh and an elementary
school, on Silberherzstrasse (Postgaesschen).
The school was closed in 1875, after which the
community employed a teacher/chazzan; another
functionary served as shochet and as an aide to
the chazzan. Saarlouis’ Jewish cemetery was
consecrated in 1905, and we also know that the
synagogue was renovated in 1878 and again in
1915.
In 1933, 364 Jews lived in Saarlouis and the
nearby villages; several Jewish associations and
branches of nation-wide organizations were
active in the community that year. Most Jews
left Saarlouis after the Saarland was returned to
Germany in March 1935.
On Pogrom Night, the five remaining Jewishowned
businesses were destroyed and looted, as
was the synagogue’s interior. Several Jews were
assaulted that night.
In September 1939, Saarlouis’ remaining 18 Jews were forced
to leave the town: 15 emigrated from Germany; three were
deported to the Gurs concentration camp on October 22, 1940.
Saarlouis’ Jewish cemetery, severely damaged during the
war, is now a memorial site. The synagogue building—it
served as a carpenter’s shop at some point—was converted
into a church in 1968. In 1986, three years after the structure
was demolished, a new building was erected on the site;
inside, a memorial room was built in honor of the destroyed
Jewish community and its former synagogue.

Photo: The synagogue of Saarlouis in or around the year 1920. Courtesy of: City Museum of Saarlouis.
Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AJ, EJL
www.saarlouis.de
Sources: AJ, EJL
www.saarlouis.de
Located in: saarland