Memmelsdorf

Summary: The Memmelsdorf synagogue at 4 Judengasse, or “Jews’ alley”—one of the oldest synagogues in Lower Franconia to be restored after World War II—dates back to 1728 (the building also housed a mikveh). The community established a Jewish elementary school (on Schlossstrasse) in 1819 and a cemetery in 1835, prior to which Memmelsdorf Jews used the cemetery in Ebern. The school, which was moved to 3 Judengasse in 1896, closed down in 1912 as a result of dwindling enrollment numbers. Anti-Jewish riots took place in the village in 1923; and in 1926, the cemetery was desecrated. We also know that in 1933, only three children studied religion in Memmelsdorf. In May 1938, the community began negotiating the sale of the synagogue building. Later that year, on Pogrom Night, SA men forced the male members of the community to burn the synagogue’s Judaica in a field. In August 1939, the synagogue was sold to the municipality. Memmelsdorf ’s remaining Jews left in February 1940. Seventeen local Jews perished in the Shoah. An association of patrons and friends of the Memmelsdorf synagogue, founded in 1993, arranged the purchase and restoration of the synagogue building, the latter of which was completed in the summer of 2004. The cemetery was desecrated in 1999.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV www.synagoge-memmelsdorf.de www.unesco-bayern.de/isb-ak_6_juedg.htm