Wuppertal, Germany

Two Jewish families were present in 1812 and until 1895 Barmen was part of the Elberfeld regional congregation. Subsequently it formed an independent community though continuing to maintain close relations with the neighboring Elberfeld community. The Jewish population was 500 in 1895 and 721 in 1925. The community, which maintained a cemetery and a synagogue from 1897, was served by a rabbi. In 1932, the Jewish population was 720, dropping to 415 in 1937. In March 1933, a Jew was arrested in the street by the SA; on the way to the SA's Duesseldorf headquarters, he was beaten, severely injured, thrown into the river near the Bever Dam, and drowned. On Kristallnacht (9-10 Nov. 1938), the synagogue was vandalized and its contents were burned. The building was later destroyed. The Jews still in the city after the outbreak of war were held in five "Jewish houses" and deported to the death camps together with the Jews of Elberfeld in 1941-42.