Bockenheim

Summary: In 1865, the Jewish community of Bockenheim tore down its dilapidated synagogue, after which, in 1874, a new synagogue and community hall were opened at 3-5 Schlossstrasse. We also know that the community maintained a chevra kadisha (established in 1795), a health fund for men (Israelitische Maennerkrankenkasse, 1797), another fund for women (Israelitische Frauenkrankenkasse, 1830) and an Israelitische Armenkasse (1840), the last of which took care of the poor. In 1905, Jakob Horovitz was hired as rabbi. Burials were conducted in Windecken until 1714, at which point a Jewish cemetery was consecrated on Sophienstrasse; in 1927, one year before the cemetery was closed, students desecrated and overturned the headstones. In 1936/37, unemployed SA members received ideological, military and professional training in Bockenheim’s military barracks. The old hospital was converted into an unofficial concentration camp, apparently run by the SA. The synagogue was set on fire on Pogrom Night, and hundreds of Jews from Frankfurt and Bockenheim— Bockenheim was classified as a district of Frankfurt am Main in 1895—were detained in the fairground’s festival hall, where some were mistreated. Several Jews left the town after the pogrom; several others committed suicide. The synagogue ruins were later torn down. Deportations from Bockenheim—the festival hall was one of several collection points—began in 1941. At least 11 Bockenheim Jews died in the Shoah. In 1986, a photo of the former synagogue was unveiled at the Kirchplatz subway station. Memorials were erected on Schlossstrasse and in the festival hall in November of 1988 and in 1991, respectively.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn Sources: AJ, DGFJ, FJG, GFJ