Celle
General information: First Jewish presence: late 17th century; peak Jewish population: approximately 100 in the late 19th century; Jewish population in 1933: approximately
Summary:
Members of the Jewish community of Celle included court
Jews, merchants, manufacturers, physicians, lawyers, bankers
and department store owners.
The Jewish community consecrated a cemetery on
Am Berge in 1692. In 1740, prayer rooms were replaced
by a synagogue on Im Kreise (enlarged in 1883). We also
know that the community maintained a Jewish school—
established in 1832 and presided over by teachers who at
times served as cantors and ritual slaughterers—a choir, a
charitable association and a sick fund.
On Pogrom Night, Jewish-owned homes and businesses
were vandalized, Jews were publicly abused and Jewish men
were deported to Sachsenhausen. The synagogue’s interior
was destroyed, and ritual objects and Torah scrolls were
thrown onto the street. By October 1939, only 15 Jews lived
in Celle. Beginning in 1942, the remaining Jews were forced
to live in the school house, awaiting their deportation to the
concentration camps.
In 1945, an Allied attack on Celle’s railroad allowed
concentration camp prisoners to escape. Hunted down by
the SS and local residents, thousands were killed. At least 12
Celle Jews died during the Shoah.
The synagogue, one of the oldest frame houses in Lower
Saxony, was renovated by the town in 1974. It not only bears
a memorial plaque, but has, since 1997, been used by Celle’s
new Jewish community.
Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, HU, JGNB1, SIA
www.celle.de/
www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/
Sources: AH, HU, JGNB1, SIA
www.celle.de/
www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/
Located in: lower-saxony