Muelheim am Rhein, present-day Muelheim-Kaerlich

Summary: Although we do not know when Jews first settled in Muelheim, records do tell us that the town was home to a Judengasse (“Jews’ alley”) by 1456. The towns of Muelheim and nearby Kaerlich belonged to the Archbishopric of Trier, which for centuries placed restrictions on Jewish population growth in the area. It was only in 1863, in fact, that a Jewish community was officially founded in Muelheim. Services were conducted in a prayer hall in a private residence on Bassenheimer Strasse until 1925, when the community sold the building and built a small synagogue on the site. We also know that the Jews of Muelheim maintained a cemetery on Hoorweiher Strasse/Lohrweg (established in or around the year 1850) and employed a teacher of religion who performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. In 1933, 13 children received religious instruction. The following Jewish population figures are available for Kaerlich: five in 1784, 24 in 1895 and 20 in 1925. There, too, Jews established a prayer hall in a private residence (on Burgstrasse). On Pogrom Night, rioters destroyed the synagogue’s interior, set the building on fire and mockingly paraded its Star of David through the village; in Kaerlich, windows in Jewish homes were smashed. After the pogrom, Kaerlich’s local council appropriated the house in which the prayer hall had been located. Forty-one Jews from Muelheim, Kaerlich and nearby Urmitz-Bahnhof were deported in 1942. At least 14 local Jews perished in the Shoah. In 1982, the Burgstrasse prayer hall was completely renovated; it was declared a cultural monument in 1983.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn
Sources: AJ, BJGGRP, EJL, HU, LZRM, SG-RP, YV
www.ursulahomann.de/JudenInRheinlandPfalz/komplett.html