Kuchenheim
General information: First Jewish presence: 1668; peak Jewish population: 114 in 1929; Jewish population 1933: unknown (11 in 1932)
Summary: This community’s prayer room, which was established in
or around 1768, functioned intermittently until the 1930s.
Jewish children studied religion in the home of a local Jewish
merchant until 1840; we also know that the house was rebuilt
in 1857.
The small synagogue was vandalized on Pogrom Night.
Later, in 1941, Kuchenheim’s remaining seven Jews were
deported. In June of that year, the head of the town council
reported to the local government that: “The re-settlement
of Jews has been completed, none remain.”
The synagogue building was destroyed in 1945, after
which a new building was erected on the site. A section
from the synagogue’s bay windows—the only trace of the
destroyed house of worship—was incorporated into the
new structure. As of this writing, a memorial has never been
erected in Kuchenheim.
Author / Sources: Harold Slutzkin
Sources: SG-NRW, SIA
Sources: SG-NRW, SIA
Located in: north-rhine-westphalia