A significant rural community
In the 19th and early 20th century Wittlich was one of the most important Jewish communities between Trier and Koblenz. In the early 1930s around 270 Jews lived in the town — a high proportion for a small town in the region. The community was active in its own organisations, but was also widely integrated into the town’s civic associations.
The synagogue of 1910
The centre of Jewish life was the synagogue consecrated in 1910. Built in the language of historicist architecture, it was one of the most representative religious buildings of the Jewish Moselle.
The pogrom of 10 November 1938
On 10 November 1938 the interior of the synagogue was severely damaged by members of the SA and the NSDAP; numerous Jewish homes and the Jewish school were also devastated. SA units rampaged through the town; the ringleader was NSDAP district leader Walter Kölle. After the war, criminal proceedings were brought against individual perpetrators of the pogrom; a working group has documented these trials.
The Jewish cemetery
The Jewish cemetery of Wittlich lies outside the town centre on the Stäreberg. It reaches back to the second half of the 17th century; the oldest gravestones date from 1671/72. With more than 700 stones from some three centuries, it counts among the largest and best-preserved Jewish cemeteries in Rhineland-Palatinate.
A renewal of remembrance
The building of the former synagogue was restored from 1976 onwards and converted into a cultural and conference centre. A working group of Wittlich citizens prepared an exhibition that became the basis of a permanent exhibition, “Jüdisches Leben in Wittlich” (Jewish Life in Wittlich) — today on display in a neighbouring house of the former synagogue, completely redesigned in 2022.
The Emil Frank Institute
In 1997 the Emil-Frank-Institut (Emil Frank Institute) was founded at the University of Trier and the Faculty of Theology of Trier, in cooperation with the town of Wittlich, named after a long-serving chairman of the Wittlich community. The institute sees itself as a place of encounter for Jews and non-Jews in research, teaching and education. It runs a scholarly library and media collection in cooperation with Wittlich Municipal Library (more than 11,000 items) and organises conferences, seminars, language courses, readings and excursions. One research focus is the documentation of Jewish communities in the Moselle, Eifel and Hunsrück regions.