Altenschönbach Jewish community

Torah crown of the Jewish community Altenschönbach, Jewish Museum Franconia (Fürth)

The Jewish community Altenschönbach was an Israelite religious community in today's Prichsenstadt district of Altenschönbach in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen . The community existed between 1703 and the deportation of the last members of the community in 1942. The former synagogue in the village has been preserved to this day.

history

List of teachers (selection)
Surname	Term of office
Baruch Blümlein	1847-1884
Joseph Silbermann	1884-1869
Samuel Kahn	1869-1896
Joseph Kahn	1896-1900
Alexander Gutmann	1900-1925

A Jewish community was established in Altenschönbach by the 18th century at the latest. Jews are first mentioned in 1703. Around 1717 there was a Jewish school and a synagogue in the village. A year later, in 1718, sources again name a Jew in Altenschönbach. By the middle of the 18th century, the Jewish community was further established, from this point on it can be assumed that it is a real community.

With the establishment of the so-called matriculation places in the Kingdom of Bavaria , Altenschönbach was awarded 39 Jewish families. Among other things, the Gerolzhöfer Jewish teacher Löw Karlsruher lived in the village in 1817. In the middle of the 19th century the community consisted of over 140 people. At least a third of the village population was of Jewish faith at the time. Among these Jews were some farmers, tailors, butchers, bricklayers, traders, as well as day laborers and a musician.

Until the end of the 19th century, the Jewish teacher was employed as a choirboy and schochet . At times the cleric from Altenschönbach also gave lessons in the Ebrach prison . Since the 1880s, he also provided for the co-religionists in Oberschwarzach and Kirchschönbach . In 1884, twelve boys and 17 girls attended the so-called weekday school in the synagogue of 1843.

The Jews also shaped social life in Altenschönbach. In 1878, the casino club was founded, a society only accessible to Jews. The local researcher Ludwig Reinhold wrote about Altenschönbach in the same year: “When it got dark, the brightly shining Sabbath lights were lit in the Jewish houses.” The Altenschönbach Jews were buried in the cemetery in Gerolzhofen .

The former synagogue is now used as a residential building

As of 1871, the Jews in Bavaria were put on an equal footing. As a result, many rural communities dissolved because the Jewish population moved to the larger cities. In Altenschönbach, too, the community quickly halved after 1900. Around 1924 the community only consisted of 24 people, many of whom were retirees and old people. Until the seizure of power of the Nazis in 1933, the number of Jews in from took Altenschönbach on.

In 1933 there were still 15 Jews living in the village. By 1935 two people left Altenschönbach and moved to Siegendorf and Plauen . On November 10, 1938, SS men came from Prichsenstadt to the village and smashed the windows of the synagogue. From 3 p.m. there were riots in which villagers and children also took part. In addition to the destruction of the synagogue, there were raids in several houses. There were then three arrests, one person was sent to Dachau concentration camp.

By 1942 the Jewish community had been reduced further. Now six people of Jewish faith still lived in Altenschönbach. On April 22, 1942, five Altenschönbach Jews were "evacuated" by train to Würzburg , from where they were deported to Izbica , Poland on April 25 . On September 23, 1942, Klara Grünlaub, meanwhile in the nursing home in Würzburg, was also deported; this time to the Theresienstadt ghetto .

Community development

From 1839, the religious community was assigned to the Bavarian district rabbinate Niederwerrn , which was converted into the district rabbinate Schweinfurt from 1864 .

year	Members	year	Members	year	Members	year	Members	year	Members	year	Members	year	Members
1813	142	1830	147	1875	116	1900	51	1925	18th	1933	15th	1942	6th

literature

• Werner Steinhauser: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . Prichsenstadt 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steinhauser, Werner: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . P. 51.
2. ↑ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish History in Altenschönbach , accessed on December 10, 2016.
3. ↑ Steinhauser, Werner: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . P. 51.
4. ↑ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish History in Altenschönbach , accessed on December 10, 2016.
5. ↑ Steinhauser, Werner: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . P. 118.
6. ↑ Steinhauser, Werner: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . P. 12.
7. ↑ Steinhauser, Werner: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . P. 47.