The village of Rödingen (municipality of Titz, district of Düren) was already home to a few Jewish men and women in the Middle Ages. A small community developed here in the 19th century. Isaak Ullmann, head of the community for many years, had a synagogue built on his property in 1841 for the Jewish families in Rödingen and the surrounding villages. The Rödingen synagogue is the only Jewish place of worship in the western Rhineland that has been largely preserved in its original state. The descendants of the Ullmann family were forced to sell the property in 1934 due to financial difficulties caused by National Socialist persecution. The new Christian owner was a showman. From then on, he used the former synagogue as a workshop. Thanks to the "Aryan" owner, it escaped destruction during the November pogrom of 1938.
The Rhineland Regional Association was able to acquire the very dilapidated buildings in 1999. After renovation, the building ensemble was opened in 2009 as the LVR Landsynagoge Rödingen cultural center. Lectures, concerts, readings, film screenings and workshops are held monthly in the former synagogue. In the former home of the Ullmann family, a permanent exhibition invites visitors to learn about various aspects of Jewish life in the Rhineland.
