Bollendorf
General information: First Jewish presence: 1843; peak Jewish population: 110 in 1910 (9% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: unknown (62 in 1932)
Summary: Owing to the success of several local Jews in commerce
and industry, the Jewish community of Bollendorf (located
near the border with Luxemburg) developed quickly. Jews
conducted services in a prayer hall, attached to a private
residence, until a community member donated a plot of
land on which a synagogue with a seating capacity of 100
was built.
The Jewish population decreased rapidly after World
War I, as local Jews left in hopes of finding better economic
opportunities elsewhere. More Jews left the area after the
Nazis implemented their anti-Jewish boycott (1933).
On Pogrom Night, the synagogue and the remaining
Jewish-owned stores and homes were wrecked; the names of
local Jewish soldiers who died in World War I were removed
from the town’s war memorial. Of those Jews who still lived
in Bollendorf on Pogrom Night, some managed to cross the
nearby border or otherwise flee. Only 11 Jews lived in the
town when the final deportation took place, but at least 23
Bollendorf Jews perished in the Shoah.
The desecrated cemetery was restored after the war; a
memorial plaque has been unveiled there.
Author / Sources: Harold Slutzkin
Sources: EJL, SG-RPS
Sources: EJL, SG-RPS
Located in: rhineland-palatinate