At the mouth of the Moselle
Koblenz, situated where the Moselle flows into the Rhine, looks back on one of the oldest Jewish histories on the Middle Rhine. As early as 1160, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, travelling through Europe and Asia, reported on community life in Koblenz. The community always had a strongly mercantile, urban character — favoured by its central location at the confluence of the two great rivers.
Cemetery since 1303, synagogue from 1848
The Jewish cemetery of Koblenz dates back to 1303, when the community bought a vineyard from the townspeople in order to bury its dead there. In 1847/1848 the community acquired the Bürresheimer Hof and converted it into a synagogue. During the 19th century, the number of Jewish families grew markedly: from 188 persons in 1807 to 415 (1858) and 576 (1895).
Pogrom and deportation
During the November Pogrom of 9 and 10 November 1938, the interior of the synagogue was destroyed; the building itself was spared because a fire would have spread to the immediate neighbourhood. From 1942 onwards the deportations began: 870 Jews from the Koblenz area were transported via Koblenz-Lützel station to the extermination camps in the East.
New beginning after 1946
In 1946 a new community was founded in Koblenz. Today it has around 870 members — thanks in part to immigration from the former Soviet states. The present-day synagogue is the former mortuary hall, built in 1925 next to the 14th-century Jewish cemetery.
Traces along the Moselle
Between Trier and Koblenz, numerous traces of Jewish life have been preserved — for example the synagogue buildings in Zell, Bruttig-Fankel and Ediger-Eller. They all show that the Moselle was not only a landscape of wine and slate, but also a densely settled Jewish region.