Vechta
General information: First Jewish presence: 1709; peak Jewish population: 59 in 1850; Jewish population in 1933: unknown (19 in 1932)
Summary: Although records from 1784 and 1803 refer to a synagogue
in Vechta, they do not mention when or where it was
established. We know for certain, however, that in 1825 the
Jewish community acquired a synagogue building—which
also housed a school and an apartment for the teacher—on
Klingenhagen (later, Juttastrasse). Vechta’s Jewish cemetery
on Bergstruper Weg was probably consecrated in the early
1700s.
In 1932, 19 Jews lived in Vechta, as well as five in nearby
Lohne and one in Goldenstedt (the last two were affiliated
communities). Later, in 1935, the synagogue building was
remodeled to provide a residence for a Jewish family by the
name of Marx.
When the SA broke into the synagogue on Pogrom Night,
they not only smashed the windows, but also destroyed and
plundered both the synagogue and the Marx residence,
after which they burned everything at the new market place
(Neumarkt). Jewish-owned businesses, homes and the
cemetery were severely vandalized. The Marx family found
refuge with the Gerson family after the pogrom. Eventually
sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Emanuel
and Adolf Gerson were released. Adolf Gerson, who became
president of the synagogue congregation in 1937, managed
to escape to Palestine; in Bremen, Emanuel Gerson was
arrested trying to board a ship to America; he committed
suicide in a Hamburg prison in June 1940.
In 1939, at which point only nine Jews lived in Vechta,
the community sold the synagogue to private buyers. At
least seven former residents of Vechta perished in the
Shoah.
The cemetery has been restored as far as was possible; in
1981 a memorial stone was unveiled not far from the former
synagogue building.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: JGNB1, YV
www.geschichtsatlas.de/~gb21/Projekt/Juden/juden-end.htm
Sources: JGNB1, YV
www.geschichtsatlas.de/~gb21/Projekt/Juden/juden-end.htm
Located in: lower-saxony