Diepenheim

According to legend, a Jewish lender lived in Diepenheim sometime during the middle of the fourteenth century. It is possible that he was murdered during the anti-Jewish persecutions that followed an outbreak of plague in 1348. There is mention of Jews having lived in Diepenheim during the seventeenth century, but it is certain that a number of Jewish families indeed resided there by the eighteenth century.

By the outset of the nineteenth century, Diepenheim had its own organized Jewish community, most of the members of which lived in poverty. As the century progressed the economic situation of the Jews of Diepenheim improved. With the implementation of a central consistory for the Jews of the Netherlands in 1821, the Diepenheim community lost its independence and was placed under the aegis of the community of the nearby town of Goor. By 1855, religious services were held in a synagogue in Goor. The cemetery on the Hazendammerweg in Diepenheim dates to 1857. The Diepenheim community regained its independence in 1859 but surrendered it for good in 1877 when the community was again merged into that of Goor.

The Jewish cemetery at Diepenheim has been declared a national monument and is now maintained by the municipality.