Sankt Wendel
General information: First Jewish presence: 1358 (perhaps earlier); peak Jewish population: 143 in 1923; Jewish population in 1933: unknown (130 in 1932)
Summary: The earliest available record of a Jewish presence in Sankt
Wendel is from 1358. We do not know when or why Jews left
the area, but records do tell us that it was not until 1862 that a
Jewish presence was re-established in Sankt Wendel. The Jewish
community of Sankt Wendel was officially recognized in 1920.
Jews conducted services in a prayer room, established in
a private home in 1869, until 1902, when the community
inaugurated a synagogue on Kelsweilerstrasse; the synagogue,
which seated 84 men and 52 women, was renovated in 1932.
The community also maintained a cemetery (consecrated in
1871), a school and a mikveh.
After the Saarland region was returned to the German
Reich in March 1935, most Jews left: 19 Jews lived in
Sankt Wendel in 1937, nine in 1938. On Pogrom Night,
the synagogue’s interior was demolished, after which the
building was burned down. The municipality purchased the
site, which had already been cleared, in 1942.
On October 22, 1940, Sankt Wendel’s last four Jews were
deported to Gurs. At least 32 Sankt Wendel Jews perished
in the Shoah.
The former synagogue, sold in 1951 to a private
individual, was converted into a residential building, to
which a memorial plaque was affixed in 1981. Earlier, in
1972, a memorial stone was unveiled at the cemetery.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL, SG-RPS
Sources: AJ, EJL, SG-RPS
Located in: saarland