Steinbach am Glan

Summary: A Jew lived in Glan-Muenchweiler (whose Jewish community was later affiliated with Steinbach am Glan) in 1638, but it was only in the early 18th century that a Jewish presence was recorded in Steinbach itself. The town’s 18th-century Jewish community consecrated a synagogue (at 78 Hauptstrasse) in 1725 and a cemetery in 1726, the latter of which was enlarged in 1891. Steinbach was home to a Jewish school from 1838 to 1916. In 1933, 35 Jews lived in Steinbach. The community, however, numbered 79 members, as the Jews of Bruecken and Glan-Muenchweile were affiliated with Steinbach. Ten Jewish schoolchildren received religious instruction that year. On Pogrom Night, rioters destroyed the synagogue’s interior and ransacked two Jewish homes; Jewish men were sent to Dachau. Later, in July 1939, the municipality bought the synagogue building for a paltry 500 Reichsmarks, from which it deducted 300 Reichsmarks for the demolition costs. Only one Jewish family (of four members) remained in Steinbach after the pogrom; they were deported to Gurs and to Auschwitz on October 22, 1940, and in 1942, respectively. At least one Steinbach Jew perished in the Shoah. In 1941, the municipality sold the synagogue site to a private buyer, after which residential and business quarters were built there. A memorial was unveiled in the town center in 1988; 10 years later, in 1998, a Jewish section was opened in the local museum. The cemetery was desecrated in 1979, 1986 and 1993.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL, SG-RPS
www.j-museum.vg-glm.de