Merchingen
General information: First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 325 in 1849; Jewish population in 1933: 38
Summary: This community conducted services in prayer halls until
1737, when local Jews purchased a house on Buchenweg and
converted it into a synagogue. Other communal institutions
included a mikveh, a school (founded in the 1830s) and
a larger synagogue, the last of which was inaugurated in
the mid-19th century. We also know that, in 1810, after
decades of burying its dead in Berlichingen, Bodigheim
and Huengheim, the Merchingen community consecrated
a cemetery on the road to Ballenberg.
In 1933, by which point the Jews of Osterburken had
been affiliated with the community, nine schoolchildren
studied religion in Merchingen. A Jewish charity was active
there that year.
On Pogrom Night, chazzan Heymann Bravmann and
his wife were assaulted in their apartment; the synagogue’s
interior was destroyed. Later, in 1940, the building was sold
to the municipality, after which it was converted into a sports
hall.
Twenty-two Merchingen Jews emigrated, nine relocated
within Germany, five died in Merchingen and three
were deported to Gurs on October 22, 1940. At least
29 Merchingen Jews perished in the Shoah. Of the six
Osterburken Jews, five emigrated and one died in 1938.
Although the cemetery was accidentally bombed in
an air raid in 1945, much of it still exists. The synagogue
was converted into a church after the war, and in 1983 a
memorial stone and plaque were unveiled at the site.
Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK-BW
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK-BW
Located in: baden-wuerttemberg