Cronheim

Summary: The modern Jewish community of Cronheim inaugurated a synagogue in 1837. In 1922, Cronheim’s Jewish elementary school became a school for religious studies. Although the community was able to maintain its own mikveh, burials were conducted in Bechhofen. In 1933, the teacher/chazzan gave instruction to three children from Cronheim and others from nearby Heidenheim. Two chevra kadisha organizations (one for men, the other for women) and a women’s association were active in Cronheim that year. The village’s Jewish schoolteacher, Hermann Deutsch, was expelled in 1937 because he was a Hungarian national. Almost all Jews had left Cronheim by 1938 (at least 10 emigrated); three died in Cronheim. In September 1938, when the community could no longer gather a minyan and was presumably in financial strife, it sold the synagogue’s chandelier for 300 Reichsmarks. The money was used to finance community members’ travel to attend synagogue services elsewhere. In October 1938, Cronheim’s eight remaining Jews were forcibly evacuated to Augsburg. That month, the synagogue was broken into and desecrated. The building was sold on November 1, 1938; the ritual objects were transferred to Munich, where they were destroyed on Pogrom Night. At least 34 Cronheim Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue was later converted into a residential property. A memorial plaque has been unveiled in the village, and Cronheim now has a museum of tolerance.

Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-BAV