Vaals

A group of Prussian Jews settled in Vaals at the beginning of the 19th century. Beginning in 1821, the Jews of Vaals were members of the Jewish community at Eijsden. In 1827, the Vaals Jews were recognized as comprising an independent community. In 1862, the Vaals community lost its independent status and was once again merged into the community at Eijsden. The Jews of Vaals reassigned to the community at Gulpen in about 1900. In 1935, the Gulpen community was renamed Gulpen-Vaals and the seat of the community moved to Vaals.

In the middle of the 19th century, Jews in Vaals gathered for prayer and a private home. From the second half of the nineteenth century until the late 1930s, religious services were held in a synagogue established in a private home on the Von Clermontplein in Vaals.

The Jewish population of Vaals rose during the 1930s. All the Jews of Vaals were deported and murdered during the Second World War. Jewish life was not re-established in Vaals after the war. The local Jewish cemetery, which opened in about 1900 and is located near the Tentstraat, is maintained by the local authorities.