Michelstadt

Summary: The Jewish community of Michelstadt established a cemetery in, at the latest, 1700. We also know that the town was home to a mikveh and a synagogue, the latter of which had been built on Mauerstrasse on an unspecified date. In 1791, local Jews built a new synagogue on the same site; from 1822 until 1847, Seckel Loew Wormser, the Baal Shem of Michelstadt and the founder of a Talmud Torah school (70 students in 1800), served as rabbi. During the same period, Wolf Muhr served as rabbi, chazzan and shochet. After Rabbis Muhr and Seckel Loew Wormser passed away (in 1846 and 1847, respectively), the rabbinate was moved to Darmstadt. Teacher Levi presided over the school between 1845 and 1865, as did Jakob Gottschall from 1875 until 1900. In 1931/32, Leo Straus instructed 13 children in religion; earlier, in 1925, five students from Bad Koenig attended school in Michelstadt. Ninety-one Jews lived in Michelstadt in 1933, of whom 48 eventually emigrated. The interior of the synagogue was destroyed in 1938, after which the building temporarily served as a shed. Later, in 1942/43, 14 local Jews were deported to concentration camps. At least 53 Michelstadt Jews perished in the Shoah. A new Jewish community, made up of immigrants from the former USSR, was established in Michelstadt in the 1990s. The synagogue building—it had been restored in 1979—now houses a museum named after State Rabbi Dr. I. E. Lichtigfeld. Memorial stumbling stones were laid in Michelstadt in 2009.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL
www.michelstadt.de/Synagoge.74.0.html