Schopfloch

Summary: From 1612 onwards, Schopfloch’s Jewish cemetery served many neighboring communities. The Jews of Schopfloch established a synagogue in 1679 and enlarged it in 1712 and again in 1715. Rabbis served the community during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and the village was home to a regional rabbinate during the years 1841 to 1872. In 1877, a new synagogue was built on the Judengasse, or “Jews’ alley” (later renamed Bahnhofstrasse). Schopfloch’s Jews were affiliated with the community in Dinkelsbuehl in 1925. Nine Jewish schoolchildren studied religion in Schopfloch in 1933. The community ran several Jewish associations that year, including a branch of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith. In 1938, in the wake of virulent anti-Jewish incitement, Schopfloch’s mayor advised the Jews to leave. All of them did so within months, and the synagogue was eventually sold (its ritual objects were transferred to Munich). Schopfloch’s last Jews left in October 1938. Although the synagogue was set on fire on Pogrom Night, the blaze was extinguished by the fire brigade. The building’s interior was completely destroyed, as were the ritual objects in Munich. Three Schopfloch Jews emigrated; the others relocated within Germany. Forty-eight perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building was demolished in 1939. Three commemorative plaques were unveiled in Schopfloch in 1988: one at the cemetery, one at the former Jewish school on Bahnhofstrasse, and one at the former synagogue site.

Author / Sources: Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV