Jüdisches Museum Westfalen, Jewish museum in Dorsten, Germany

The Jüdisches Museum Westfalen occupies a red-painted, three-storey Gründerzeit house of around 1900 at the corner of Südwall and Julius-Ambrunn-Straße, its gable pierced by an ox-eye window with David-star tracery. In 2000 a two-storey extension by Detlef Wiegand was added along Südwall, built of irregular clinker brick recalling 1920s Brick Expressionism. A glazed foyer and an upper gallery link old and new buildings.

The museum grew out of the Dorsten citizens' initiative "Regionalgeschichte/Dorsten unterm Hakenkreuz", active since 1982, which published local history and researched Dorsten's Jewish community, until 1932 the second-largest synagogue district in Germany by area. In 1987 the group founded the Verein für jüdische Geschichte und Religion and began collecting Judaica as the "Sammlung Judaica Dorsten". The museum opened on 28 June 1992 in a renovated old-town building, with Johannes Rau and Israeli ambassador Benjamin Navon present; the name "Westfalen" was added just before opening.

The street beside the museum, Julius-Ambrunn-Straße, is named after the last chairman of the local synagogue community, who held the post in 1942. The building's gable windows carry tracery in the form of a Star of David. The museum arose from a citizens' initiative and a research group on regional history, and its founders chose the name addition "Westfalen" shortly before opening to mark it as Westphalia's only Jewish museum.

The museum stands at the corner of Südwall and Julius-Ambrunn-Straße, southeast of Dorsten's old town. The entrance links the 1900s townhouse with Detlef Wiegand's 2000 brick extension, and the foyer and gallery are reached through large glazed openings. The Julius-Ambrunn-Straße is named after the last chairman of the local synagogue community, who held the post in 1942.

The building's name addition "Westfalen" was decided just before the 28 June 1992 opening, to stress its status as Westphalia's only Jewish museum, even though the collection then held few objects of Westphalian origin. The opening was attended by NRW minister-president Johannes Rau and Israeli ambassador Benjamin Navon.