Juelich

General information: First Jewish presence: 13th century; peak Jewish population: 137 in 1910; Jewish population in 1933: 120
Summary: The Jewish community of Juelich was destroyed in the Black Death pogroms of 1349, after which its property was expropriated. A new Jewish community, established there in the mid-17th century, numbered ten families by the beginning of the 18th century. Communal institutions included a medieval cemetery, a new cemetery (consecrated in 1816) and a synagogue, the last of which was located on Grunstrasse and was inaugurated in 1861. According to records, a local Jewish couple was accused of blood libel in 1840. Many Juelich Jews emigrated from Germany between 1933 and 1937. On Pogrom Night, SA troops and local residents burned down the synagogue building, but not before looting its valuables. Jewish homes were vandalized, and Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. Of the remaining 52 Jews, several emigrated from or relocated within Germany. In March 1941, approximately 30 Jews—Juelich’s last— were deported to the East. Seventy-one local Jews died in the Shoah, including some who had escaped to the Netherlands and to Belgium.
Author / Sources: Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
Sources: AH, EJL, SIA