Destruction

The first Driburg synagogue was built at the beginning of the 19th century. It was destroyed in the great fire of 1876, which destroyed around 65 houses in Bachstrasse, Schulstrasse and Nordstrasse. However, a new synagogue was built on the same site just two years later. In 1900, the local Jewish community had a total of 57 members
and made up 2.2% of the population. On the night of the pogrom on November 9-10, 1938, almost all Jewish synagogues throughout the Reich were burned down. More than 7,000 Jewish businesses and homes were destroyed or severely damaged on
that night. The Driburg synagogue was also set on fire: The windows were smashed with stones, the Torah scrolls torn up, the organ smashed and the interior set on fire.
While the fire department was deployed, the fire was reignited again and again.

Conversions
When the Jewish community could no longer afford to maintain the building after the destruction, it was forced to sell the property with the synagogue. In 1941, the synagogue initially became a
fire brigade garage. The front façade was altered to create driveways for the garage. As a result, the three lancet windows disappeared. The rest of the brickwork is still old and was later plastered over. The further history of the house is very varied: the building housed classrooms from the nearby elementary school as well as a drinks market.
The Portuguese community also once used the premises for meetings. It also served as a garage for vehicles belonging to the Malteser emergency services and the German Red Cross. During the renovation of the Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul, services were also held in the former synagogue.
The building is one of the few country synagogue buildings to have survived in the Westphalia region.

Image sources: Unless otherwise indicated,
the images originate from the archives of the town of Bad Driburg, Meiners, Herzog or Gehle.