Duedelsheim

Summary: By 1722, Jews in Duedelsheim were conducting services in a prayer room (located in a private residence). Records from 1803 mention a synagogue, and we also know that a larger synagogue—58 seats for men, 30 for women— was inaugurated at 21 Hauptstrasse in 1861. Duedelsheim was home to a Jewish cemetery in the 17th century; in the late 1870s, the community consecrated larger burial grounds. The community also maintained a mikveh. In 1934, in response to dwindling population numbers, the community was dissolved. On Pogrom Night, SA men from Buedingen and local residents smashed the synagogue’s windows and furniture, after which they burned the debris and ritual objects in a meadow. Jewish homes were plundered, property was destroyed, and Jews were assaulted, one of whom, a 52-yearold woman, was dragged out of a bathroom, smeared with excrement and taken, together with her brother, to the marketplace, where they were forced to dance with a broom. All Jews were arrested that night, after which the women were freed and the men were sent to Buchenwald. Twenty-one Jews emigrated (13 of them went to the United States) and 50 relocated within Germany. Duedelsheim’s last two Jews moved to Frankfurt in May 1940. At least 19 local Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building was demolished in the early 1950s. In 1989, a memorial plaque was affixed to the residential building built in its place.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF