Brandoberndorf
General information: First Jewish presence: 1757; peak Jewish population: 25-28 in 1932/33
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
Sources: EJL, LJG, YV
Located in: hesse