Bueren

Summary: Jews were expelled from Bueren in 1292, and it was not until the mid-1600s that the ban on Jewish settlement there was rescinded. The Jewish population of the early 1800s was in the single digits. Later, in the mid-1850s, Jews from Bueren and the surrounding towns conducted joint services. In Bueren, a synagogue was inaugurated in 1860; the building also housed a school which in 1909 was closed down due to low enrollment numbers. Pogrom Night in Bueren lasted for two days. On the afternoon of November 10, 1938, local hoodlums vandalized the synagogue and threw its furniture into a bonfire. On November 11, the same group of hoodlums, this time accompanied by local SS men, burned the synagogue down while the fire department protected neighboring homes. Razed in May 1939, the synagogue site is now used as a parking lot. In 1988, a memorial plaque containing a brief history and a picture of the synagogue was unveiled in Bueren.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: EJL, SG NRW, SIA