DUEREN

DUEREN, city near Aachen, Germany. Jews from Dueren are mentioned in 13th-century records. In 1238 Anselm of Dueren and his wife, Jutta, acquired some property in the Jewish quarter of Cologne. In 1241 the Jews of Dueren paid ten marks imperial tax. Judah of Dueren was involved in a famous controversy over a marriage mentioned in a responsum of Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg. During the second half of the 13th century isaac ben meir dueren lived in the city. The community was annihilated during the Black Death (1348–49), and was not reconstituted until the 19th century. The modern community, which had its own elementary school, numbered 252 in 1880, 268 in 1905, and 358 in 1933, but was reduced to 184 in 1939. During Kristallnacht (November 10, 1938) the synagogue and community center were burned down by the Nazis. One hundred Jewish men from Dueren were interned in Buchenwald. In July 1941 the remaining Jews were deported to the death camps. After the war, 15 Jews returned there, but subsequently left, and Jewish community life was not resumed. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Bruell, Chronik der Stadt Dueren (1895); Germ Jud, S.V.; A. Kober, Grundbuch des Koelner Judenviertels (1920); I. Kracauer, Geschichte der Juden in Frankfurt a.M., 1 (1925); Salfeld, Martyrol; A. Schoop, Quellen zur Rechts- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der rheinischen Staedte: Juedische Staedte, 1 (1920); A. Wedell, in: Geschichte der Stadt Duesseldorf… zum 600–jaehrigen Jubilaeum (1888); H.J. Zimmels, Beitraege zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland (1926); Hoeniger-Stern, Judenschreinsbuch. Add. Bibliography: N. Naor, Erinnerung. Eine Dokumentation ueber die Juedinnen und Juden in Dueren (1994). (Ze'ev Wilhem Falk)