Wallertheim
General information: First Jewish presence: 1690; peak Jewish population: 68 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 36
Summary:
The Jewish community of Wallertheim established a prayer
hall in, at the latest, 1851. In order to accommodate the
growing Jewish congregation, Wallertheim Jews inaugurated
a new synagogue (at 3, Neustrasse) in 1884. Wallertheim
had two Jewish cemeteries: the first, consecrated in the early
17th century, was enlarged in 1765 and closed in 1835, after
which, in 1840, the community consecrated a new cemetery.
We also know that local Jews maintained a mikveh and
employed (until the 1930s) a teacher of religion who served
as chazzan and shochet.
In 1913, windows were smashed in two Jewish homes; a
fence was destroyed in a third. By 1927, synagogue services
were conducted only on Saturdays.
Thirty-six Jews lived in Wallertheim in 1933. A chevra
kadisha and a welfare association were active in the
community, with which the Jews of Gau-Bickelheim (10)
and Armsheim (four) were affiliated.
On Pogrom Night, rioters set the synagogue on fire, ransacked
Jewish homes and businesses and desecrated the new cemetery;
a 94-year-old Jewish man died of wounds he sustained that
night. Later, in 1940, the old cemetery was leveled.
Twenty-one local Jews emigrated (16 went to the United
States), 15 relocated within Germany, one passed away in
Wallertheim and one was killed on Pogrom Night. All Jews
had left Wallertheim by 1940. At least 26 Wallertheim Jews
perished in the Shoah.
In 1952, the local council took over the former
synagogue, after which the building was used as council
offices. Renovated in 2005/06, the building now bears a
memorial plaque.
Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF
Located in: rhineland-palatinate