Bastheim
General information: First Jewish presence: 18th century; peak Jewish population: 53 in 1900; Jewish population in 1933: 17
Summary: The Jews of Bastheim conducted services in a prayer hall (possibly a synagogue) until 1851, when a new synagogue was inaugurated at 1 Auweg. The community buried its dead at the Jewish cemetery in Oberwaldbehrungen.
In May of 1938, the tiny community sold the synagogue. In September of that year, against the background of the Sudeten Crisis and the ongoing negotiations regarding Germany’s proposed annexation of the Sudetenland, riots broke out in Bastheim: Local residents broke into the synagogue,destroyedtheTorahArk,toreuptheTorahscrolls and damaged the ritual objects. When the rioting subsided, Bastheim’s few remaining Jews transferred the desecrated scrolls and ritual objects to Unsleben, where they were destroyed on Pogrom Night.
During the Nazi period, eight local Jews emigrated, four relocated within Germany and five died in Bastheim. The village’s last two Jews were deported to Izbica and Theresienstadt in April and September of 1942. At least six Bastheim Jews perished in the Shoah.
A memorial plaque commemorating the destroyed community was later affixed to the former synagogue building.
Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PAK-BAV
Located in: bavaria