Rotenburg

Summary: Jews were massacred in Rotenburg during the Black Death pogroms of 1348/49, and it was not until the mid- 18th century that a Jewish presence was re-established there. In 1738, the community inaugurated a synagogue on Brotgasse. Renovated and re-inaugurated in 1924, the synagogue also housed a Jewish elementary school, which was at one point the largest of its kind in the Kurhesse province (with 70 pupils and two teachers); after 1913, however, the school limited its curriculum to religious studies. We also know that the community maintained a mikveh on Brauhausstrasse and a cemetery at Katzenkopf. In Rotenburg, a pogrom erupted in 1848; the violence was so intense that the town had to send for a troop of 300 armed men to restore order. On March 30, 1933, Jewish-owned stores were vandalized and damaged; that same year, the Schloss Park was renamed Adolf Hitler Park. Many Jews left Rotenburg during the years that followed. On Pogrom Night, SA men vandalized the synagogue and destroyed its interior. The violence, which was referred to as an “Aktion” (“mission”) also included the destruction of Jewish apartments. Most of the remaining Jews left Rotenburg after the pogrom; and in 1940, the town was declared “Judenrein,” or “cleansed of Jews.” Rotenburg is no longer home to a Jewish community. Memorial plaques have been unveiled next to the former synagogue, to the Jewish school and to the mikveh. Memorial stumbling stones commemorate the community.

Author / Sources: Benjamin Rosendahl
Sources: AJ, EJL, LJG, SG-H, YV