Heidenheim

General information: First Jewish presence: late 17th century (possibly early 18th century); peak Jewish population: 130 in 1837 and 1867; Jewish population in 1933: 31
Summary: Wolf Benjamin ben Samson Heidenheim (born in 1757), the renowned liturgical scholar and grammarian, was a native of Heidenheim. In 1852/53, one year after Heidenheim’s old synagogue burned down, the town’s Jewish community established a new synagogue (60 seats for men, 40 for women) at the same address—7 Hechinger Strasse. Although local Jews were able to maintain an elementary school and a mikveh, they conducted burials in Bechhofen. The community’s last schoolteacher left in 1923, and the school was closed down, after which the few remaining Jewish schoolchildren studied with a teacher from Cronheim. Only four pupils studied religion in Heidenheim in 1933. In 1936, two Jews, one of whom was the schoolteacher from Cronheim, were arrested for wanting to slaughter poultry. (Jewish ritual slaughter had been forbidden by the Nazis.) On Pogrom Night, rioters burned down the synagogue. The school’s furniture and equipment were destroyed, as was the mikveh. During the Nazi period, eight Heidenheim Jews emigrated and 22 relocated within Germany. Heidenheim’s remaining Jews left in December 1938. At least 20 local Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building—the outer walls survived the pogrom—was demolished in 1980. A memorial stone and a plaque were unveiled at the site in November 1988.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV
Located in: bavaria