Hirschaid

General information: First Jewish presence: 15th century; peak Jewish population: 83 in 1812 (13.7% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 64
Summary: In 1851, the Jews of Hirschaid replaced their 18th-century prayer room and mikveh, which had been established in a private home in 1735, with a new synagogue. Hirschaid was home to a Jewish school, the last of its kind in Franconia, from the 19th century until 1924. The communities of Hirschaid and Buttenheim owned a joint cemetery in Buttenheim. When the Buttenheim community was dissolved, its members joined Hirschaid, forming the Jewish community of Hirschaid-Buttenheim. In 1933, the community employed a teacher of religion (he instructed five pupils) who also performed the duties of chazzan. A women’s chevra kadisha was active in Hirschaid that year. On Pogrom Night, SA men from Bamberg set fire to the synagogue; six or eight Jewish men were arrested and sent to Dachau. The sy זnagogue site and the school building were later confiscated by the local authorities. By May 1939, only four Jews still lived in Hirschaid. Of these, one left in 1940 and another was deported to Izbica (via Wuerzburg) in 1942. The fate of the two Jews still living in Hirschaid in November 1942, remains unknown. At least 32 Hirschaid Jews perished in the Shoah. A monument to the former synagogue was later built on the original site.
Photo: A group of Jewish children and men posing for a photograph outside the synagogue of Hirschaid. Courtesy of: The Alte Schule Museum, Hirschaid.
Author / Sources: Yaakov Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV
Located in: bavaria