Hochneukirch
General information: First Jewish presence: 18th century; peak Jewish population: 60 in the 19th century; Jewish population in 1933: 20 (see below)
Summary:
The earliest available record of a Jewish presence in
Hochneukirch is from the mid-18th century. Most local Jews
were peddlers and livestock traders.
The community attended services in neighboring
synagogues until August 15, 1902, when it inaugurated a
small synagogue on Weidenstrasse (present-day Von-Werth-
Strasse). The Jewish cemetery on Am Stromberg had been
consecrated in 1824.
Sources differ regarding Jewish population figures for
1933. Either 20 or 50 Jews lived there at the beginning of
the Nazi period. We know for certain, however, that the
Jews of Hochneukirch had been affiliated with the Jewish
community of Juechen by 1933.
On Pogrom Night (November 10, 1938), the synagogue
building was set on fire, Jewish homes were attacked. The
synagogue ruins were removed several days later.
In all, 27 local Jews were deported to the concentration
and extermination camps in Eastern Europe. At least 34
Hochneukirch Jews perished in the Shoah.
The Jewish cemetery was desecrated in 1951, as it had
been during the Nazi period; there, the last burial took place
in 1969, but it was not until 1996 that the cemetery was
declared a historical site. Unveiled in 1980, a memorial
plaque commemorates the former synagogue.
Author / Sources: Heidi Wawrzyn
Sources: EJL, FJG, HU, LJG, SIA, YV
www.steinheim-institut.de
Sources: EJL, FJG, HU, LJG, SIA, YV
www.steinheim-institut.de
Located in: north-rhine-westphalia