Jewish heritage sites were not spared serious damage amid the overall widespread destruction caused by the devastating flash floods that inundated parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in mid-July.
More than 200 people died in the flooding, triggered by torrential rain that caused rivers and streams to overflow their banks and ravage towns and villages, leaving many places under water and debris. Burst dams and landslides added to the devastation.
JHE reader Dr. Christian Riemenschneider has sent us a brief report and photos of the damage to the Jewish cemetery and former synagogue in the devastated riverside town of Ahrweiler, in the Ahr river valley — the hardest-hit flood region.
The Ahrweiler Jewish cemetery lies around 100 meters from the Ahr river and — like the town’s main cemetery (and cemeteries in other towns) — was essentially washed away, with its gravestones knocked over and swept away by the force of the floodwaters.
With 66 matzevot, the cemetery (which before the flood was very well maintained) covers an area of roughly 900 square meters and was used between 1871 and 1960. (Click HERE and scroll down for a photo gallery of the cemetery before the flood.)
“The surrounding wall is almost completely destroyed,” Riemenschneider wrote. “In the front area facing Schuetzenstraße, almost all the gravestones have been knocked over by water and debris and are covered in mud. Some cars have also been washed into the cemetery.” He did not, however, see any major washouts in the soil.
The former Ahrweiler synagogue, located on somewhat higher ground, seems to have fared better, though it also suffered damage — as it would have been under about one meter of water.
Riemenschneider said that the could see no substantial destruction on the outside, but the condition of the interior could not be assessed — and the condition of the ceremonial and historic objects displayed in the synagogue, including the historic parochet, was not known.
The synagogue, devastated on Kristallnacht in 1938, is maintained today as a cultural space by a citizen’s association that was founded in 1978 to promote German-Jewish and German-Israeli dialogue.
It acquired the synagogue in 1981 and renovated it in the following years in cooperation with the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. The interior and exterior were largely restored to their original condition.
Please let us know if you have reports on damage to Jewish heritage sites in other flood-hit towns!
Click and scroll down for a photo gallery of the cemetery before the flood