Dortmund - Dorstfeld
General information: First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 110 in 1885; Jewish population in 1933: 83
Summary:
Jews arrived in Dorstfeld at some point in the 1600s, after
they were banished from the nearby city of Dortmund. The
Dorstfeld authorities announced that they would welcome
these Jews, triggering the establishment of what would
become the largest and most important Jewish community
in the area during this period. It is worth noting that in 1818,
when the ban on Jews living in Dortmund was rescinded,
Dorstfeld lost half of its Jewish population in fewer than
25 years.
Services were conducted in private residences until 1818,
when a modest synagogue, with a simple wooden door and
plain glass windows, was built in Dorstfeld. The curtains
were not made of silk, but, rather, of inexpensive cotton, and
the furniture, including the ark, was of low-grade cedar. The
synagogue was renovated in 1860, and a small school was
constructed adjacent to the building.
Anti-Semitism escalated in early 1938: the exterior
of the synagogue was defaced with anti-Semitic slogans,
Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized and Jews were
humiliated and mocked in the streets. The deteriorating
situation climaxed on Pogrom Night, when SA members
broke the synagogue’s windows and demolished the
interior; the Torah scrolls and other holy books were
thrown onto the street and set on fire. The synagogue
building was torn down in 1940. A granite block, with a plaque mounted on it, was later
unveiled near the former synagogue site.
Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: LJG, SIA, SG-NRW
Sources: LJG, SIA, SG-NRW
Located in: north-rhine-westphalia