Dornum is a village and a municipality in the

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

n district of Aurich, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is located near the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

coast, approx. 15 km east of Norden, and 20 km north of

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', ) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in popula ...

Division of the municipality

The municipality is divided into ten districts, namely: Dornumergrode, Dornumersiel/Westeraccumersiel, Nesse, Neßmersiel, Roggenstede, Schwittersum, Westdorf (including Ostdorf), Westeraccum, and Westerbur (including Middelsbur).

Notable places

Dornum is home to the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

St. Bartholomaeus Church. This church contains an organ built by Gerhard von Holy. The organ is now considered a national treasure. Dornum also houses the only surviving synagogue building in

. The synagogue was deconsecrated and sold on 7 November 1938 for 600

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s to the neighboring master carpenter August Tessmer, who subsequently used it as a storeroom. Nevertheless, on

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

, the windows of the building were smashed in, and the remaining furnishings were taken out of the building and burned on the market square.

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

troops arrested all the Jewish residents of the town that night and deported them to neighboring Norden, where other Jews from the district were also rounded up. The elderly, women, and children were released on the morning of 10 November, the men were deported to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

, from which they only returned weeks later. In the period that followed, the last Jews tried, as far as they were able, to leave Dornum or Germany. On 13 September 1939, 8 Jewish fellow citizens were still living in Dornum. The receiving terminal for gas through Europipe I and II lies at Dornum. From here, gas is transported through a 48-kilometer-long pipeline to

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

for quality and volume metering. From here the gas is routed to customers’ gas grids. The

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

receive gas through Europipe II at Dornum. The Czechs take over the gas here for onward transport via the German St Katerina gas grid, at the German-Czech border. Austria takes over the gas at the German-Austrian border at Oberkappel.

Notable residents

Miene Schönberg (later known as Minnie Marx), was born in Dornum in 1865; she was the mother of the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...

. Her brother

Al Shean Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (May 12, 1868 – August 12, 1949), known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is mos ...

was also born in Dornum, in 1868.

Gallery

File:Dornumersiel Fischerhafen.jpg, Fishing harbour at Dornumersiel Norderburg (Dornum) Hauptgebaeude.jpg, Main building of the Norderburg Castle BeningaburgDornum-msu-2021-0717-4971.jpg, Beningaburg Castle

References

External links

Website of the municipality

Pipe organ concert tour
{{Authority control Towns and villages in East Frisia Aurich (district) Dornum