Obj. ID: 58388 Memorial to the destroyed synagogue in Rheda Wiedenbrück, Germany, 1980
Memorial Name
No official name
Who/What is Commemorated?
Destroyed synagogue in Rheda Wiedenbrück
Description:
The memorial stone, similar to a gravestone stele, is 108 cm wide and 150 cm high and features a metal plaque with an inscription commemorating the synagogue. The inscription is preceded by a Star of David.
The memorial is surrounded by a small flowerbed on Schlosstraße. However, passing motorists are unlikely to notice the memorial, which is hidden in the shade of a large beech tree.
Four stumbling stones have been inserted into the sidewalk in front of the memorial.
Inscriptions:
In German:
Hier stand das Gotteshaus der Synagogengemeinde Rheda, das am 9.11.1938 von den Nationalsozialisten mutwillig zerstört wurde. Der Ort auf dem Du stehst, ist heiliger Boden.
Translation: Here stood the house of worship of the Rheda synagogue community, which was wantonly destroyed by the National Socialists on November 9, 1938 // The place on which you stand is holy ground / Exodus 3:5
Commissioned by
plaque: 66 x 76 cm
The synagogue was erected in 1860/61 as an attachment to the Jewish school building, which had existed since 1806. It was burnt down in the early morning of November 11, 1938.
A memorial stone was erected in August 1980. The dedication speech was held by Werner Weinberg (1915-1997), who was born in Rheda and served as cantor in the synagogue.
In front of the stone, there are four "stumbling blocks" to commemorate the Jewish inhabitants of the building.
At least since the late 1990s, the ceremony to commemorate the November Pogrom has not taken place at this site, but rather at the Jewish cemetery (Woesteweg/Ignaz-Bubis-Platz).
Brade, Anna Christine et al, Ich dachte, sie wären tot. NS-Mahnmale und Erinnerungsprozesse in Ostwestfalen-Lippe (Herford: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 1997), p. 22f.
Pracht, Elfi, Jüdisches Kulturerbe in Nordrhein-Westfalen, vol. III (Regierungsbezirk Detmold) (Cologne: Bachem, 1998), pp. 70f, 94.
"Rheda (Nordrhein-Westfalen),"
Aus der Geschichte der jüdischen Gemeinden im deutschen Sprachraum, https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/p-r/1652-rheda-nordrhein-westfalen.
"Synagoge (Rheda),"
Wikipedia, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagoge_(Rheda).