Stemwede under National Socialism

The Jews of Dielingen

There have always been only a few Jewish citizens in Dielingen. They included Henriette Weidenbaum, a widow, and the Coblenzer family, who had lived here for over a hundred years and ran a small business.

The Dielingen Jews mostly went to the synagogue in Lemförde, as the distance was shorter than to Levern. The mood in the village changed in the 1930s. There is oral evidence that hateful remarks such as "Judah, die!" were hurled at Jewish neighbors. On the other hand, intensive and caring neighborly relations are also known to have existed during this time.

Stemwede under National Socialism

Dear good neighbors

Below you will find the transcript of a letter from the Jew Walter Coblenzer to his former Dielingen neighbors.

Dear good neighbors!

It has long been a matter close to my heart to inquire about your well-being. I hope that you are in good health and that, above all, you know whether Willi [the son who fought in the war] is still well? Has he been home on harvest vacation recently? Surely the weather was always so bad there at harvest time? It always rained, so that most of the grain had to grow out and the farmers were in despair. But now the potato harvest was all the better. The yields here are also satisfactory. Flava is the main crop. The beetroot harvest is also in full swing. We are fast approaching the end of the year again. It is good that we all know nothing yet about what 1942 will bring us. Above all, we hope that the terrible struggle between nations will soon come to an eternal end.

We, as Jews, are suffering unspeakably. The measures that have been taken recently are more distressing than ever. Everyone is marked as a "Jew" with a yellow star and may only leave the town with police permission. There is a permanent pass to the workplace. In the big city, all this is not as bad as in the small town (...)

There is little else to report from here, but I am always very pleased when I receive a detailed and, above all, satisfied letter from the old homeland and especially from you. There's no need to think about emigrating now, and we mustn't lose heart about it; because if hope were gone, everything would be over. Now enough and wishing you all the best for the future, I remain with my best regards

Your Walter

Walter was deported to the Riga/Latvia ghetto on December 13, 1941 and died there in March 1942 at the age of 35.

Stemwede under National Socialism

Fates

Jenny Gärtner, née Goldschmidt

Jenny Gärtner was born on April 9, 1882 in Dielingen. She lived in Barnstorf and Bremen before the war. She was deported from Hamburg to Minsk in Belarus on 18.11.1941 and murdered on 28.7.1942.

Walter Uri Coblenzer

Walter Uri Coblenzer was born on March 13, 1907 in Dielingen. He had to sell his parents' house in Dielingen and then lived in Hausberge an der Porta (Minden) in Jewish accommodation. He worked in a quarry there. He was deported to Riga on 13.12.1941 and murdered there on 26.3.1942.

Greta Salomon, née Coblenzer

Greta Salomon was born on April 11, 1887 in Dielingen. She lived with her husband Siegfried in Dortmund, from where she was deported to Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic on July 29, 1942. She was probably murdered there on 18.1.1943.

Henrietta Jette Weidenbaum, née Sauer

Henriette Weidenbaum was born on June 21, 1864 in Dielingen. As a widow, she had to change her home several times and finally moved to a Jewish retirement home in Unna. She was deported from Dortmund to Theresienstadt (Czech Republic) on July 29, 1942. On September 23, 1942, she was taken to Treblinka in Poland, where she was murdered.