Brandoberndorf

Summary: The earliest available record of a Jewish presence in Brandoberndorf (in the Usingen district) is dated 1757. In 1834, after a new synagogue was inaugurated in Cleeberg, the district authorities tried, in vain, to persuade Brandoberndorf Jews to pray there. Instead, local Jews conducted services in a half-timbered house in neighboring Kroeffelbach; the building, located at 102 Lindenstrasse, was converted into a proper synagogue in 1876. It was in Kroeffelbach, too, that the community maintained a cemetery. Between 25 and 28 Jews lived in Brandoberndorf in 1933, by which point the Jews of Kraftsolm had begun to attend services in the Kroeffelbach synagogue. The synagogue was burned to the ground on Pogrom Night, after which the site was leveled. According to Yad Vashem, 13 Brandoberndorf Jews perished in the Shoah. As of this writing, a memorial has never been erected in the town.

Author / Sources: Benjamin Rosendahl
Sources: EJL, LJG, YV