Klein-Krotzenburg

Summary: In the late 1800s, a local Jewish-owned cigarette factory employed more than 500 workers. An official Jewish community was founded in Klein-Krotzenburg in 1911. Jews had conducted services in a prayer hall for nearly 200 years, but in 1913, soon after the community was founded, a synagogue (with a schoolroom) was inaugurated at 6 Kettelerstrasse. The community maintained a Jewish school and, after 1872, a cemetery near Edisonstrasse. In 1933, 30 Jews still lived in Klein-Krotzenburg; a Jewish family of four in nearby Hainstadt was affiliated with the community. The cigarette factory was “aryanized” in 1934, after which its owner, Max Rosenthal, moved to Karlsruhe with his family. The synagogue interior was destroyed on Pogrom Night. Jewish homes were plundered, and Jewish men were humiliated in the schoolyard before being sent to Dachau. The former synagogue, subsequently appropriated by the village authorities, was later used as a workshop and storage site. Fourteen Jews emigrated; the others relocated in Germany. By the end of 1939, all Jews had left Klein-Krotzenburg and Hainstadt. At least 17 Klein-Krotzenburg Jews died in the Shoah. In the years 1993 to 1997, the former synagogue building was restored and converted into a cultural and memorial center, to which a memorial plaque has been affixed.

Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK-HNF