Wannbach
General information: First Jewish presence: 1765; peak Jewish population: 61 in 1880 (25% of the local population); Jewish population in 1933: 1
Summary: Wannbach is in Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), in an area
known today as Fraenkische Schweiz. The town is now part
of Pretzfeld.
It is thought that Jewish families lived in Wannbach in
the 17th century as “protected Jews.” The earliest record of
a Jewish presence in Wannbach, a contract dated 1765,
permitted three Jewish families to live next to the castle of
the Count of Seinsheim. In 1770, the tiny Jewish community
inaugurated a synagogue—the mikveh was located in the
basement—at Haus Nr. 25 (literally “house number 25”).
Although local Jews never consecrated their own cemetery
(burials were conducted in Hagenbach), they did manage
to establish a Jewish school in 1829.
In 1910, by which time the Jews of Wannbach had not
been able to gather a minyan for 10 years, the community
joined that of Hagenbach, resulting in a new name for
the community: the religious community of Hagenbach-
Wannbach.
The defunct synagogue was sold in 1900, after which it was
used as a shed. In 1925, only four Jews lived in Wannbach;
and in 1934 the Hagenbach-Wannbach community was
dissolved. According to records, the remaining Jews moved
to Bamberg.
Nevertheless, on Pogrom Night, Nazis destroyed the
interior of Wannbach’s former synagogue (the building
was later torn down) as well as the home of Wannbach’s
only remaining Jew, Ernst Wollner. Wollner was sent to the
Forchheim prison and never returned.
According to Yad Vashem, 15 Wannbach Jews were killed
in the Shoah. As of this writing, a memorial has never been
erected in the town.
Author / Sources: Benjamin Rosendahl
Sources: AJ, EJL, LJG, SG-H, YV
Sources: AJ, EJL, LJG, SG-H, YV
Located in: bavaria