Dinslaken
General information: First Jewish presence: 1366; peak Jewish population: 301 in 1927 (or 388 in 1895); Jewish population in 1933: 208 or 221
Summary: Few Jews lived in Dinslaken before the 18th century. In the
early 19th century, local Jews established a prayer room in a
private residence, soon after which the community purchased
a site on the corner of Klosterstrasse and Kaiserstrasse
and converted it into a synagogue; inaugurated in 1812,
the synagogue also housed a Jewish elementary school
(established in 1824) and an apartment for the teacher. The
records tell us that a mikveh was installed in the building in
1893 (the same year during which the gallery was enlarged),
and that changes were made to the exterior in 1910.
Dinslaken’s Jewish cemetery on auf den Doelen (presentday
Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse) was consecrated in 1722. In
1912, in response to the fact that construction on the street
was growing increasingly invasive, the cemetery was moved
to Wasserturmstrasse.
In 1885, the community purchased a residential building
on Neustrasse and set up an orphanage there. The orphanage,
which served as a social center, accommodated a small
synagogue and, beginning in 1931, a
kindergarten. Various charity groups
were active in Dinslaken, including one
that attended to the needs of the sick.
Jews and Jewish-owned stores were
attacked in 1920. In 1936, the synagogue
was vandalized and looted by local high
school students. Many Dinslaken Jews
left for larger cities during the mid-
1930s.
On Pogrom Night, SA men, assisted
by local students and their teachers,
destroyed the interior of the orphanage
and set the synagogue and several
neighboring Jewish homes on fire. Jewish
men were arrested and severely beaten,
after which they were sent to Dachau; children and staff members from the orphanage were sent
to Cologne—from where they eventually immigrated to the
Netherlands—but not before being dragged through the
streets and humiliated.
Seventy Dinslaken Jews perished in the extermination
camps. Memorials were erected at the former synagogue site
and at the orphanage in 1980.
Photo: The synagogue of Dinslaken. Courtesy of: City Archive of Dinslaken.
Author / Sources: Ruth Martina Trucks
Sources: EJL, FJG, LJG, SG-NRW
Sources: EJL, FJG, LJG, SG-NRW
Located in: north-rhine-westphalia