Bitburg
General information: First Jewish presence: 18th century; peak Jewish population: 73 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 65
Summary:
Beginning in the mid-1800s, the Bitburg community
maintained a prayer room in a private residence. The
foundation stone for a new synagogue was laid in 1877, but
lack of funds delayed construction for another two years; the
new synagogue also housed a mikveh and a classroom. After
1890, burials were conducted in the cemetery on Erdorfer
Strasse.
The community was able, for an unspecified period,
to employ a teacher of religion who also performed the
duties of shochet and chazzan. By 1925, however, Jewish
schoolchildren were tutored in private residences.
In 1933, twelve schoolchildren received religious instruction.
Bitburg’s Jewish women’s association had 18 members.
On Pogrom Night, rioters vandalized and desecrated the
synagogue. Later, in 1944, the building was destroyed during
an air raid.
Seventeen Bitburg Jews emigrated from Germany (15
went to the United States), others relocated within the
country and eight, the village’s last, were deported to the
East in 1942. At least 24 Bitburg Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue ruins were pulled down in 1952, after
which a gas station was built on the site; the land was sold
yet again in 1975 and, later, converted into a parking lot. A
plaque commemorating Bitburg’s former Jewish community
was unveiled at the former synagogue site following President
Reagan’s controversial visit to the nearby military cemetery in
1985. The Jewish cemetery also houses a memorial plaque.
Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL
www.roscheiderhof.de/kulturdb/kultur/kultur2910.html
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL
www.roscheiderhof.de/kulturdb/kultur/kultur2910.html
Located in: rhineland-palatinate