Flacht

Summary: The Jews of Flacht had petitioned for a synagogue in 1848, but it was only in 1890 that a synagogue was inaugurated there (on 35 Hauptstrasse); prior to 1890, Jews conducted services in a prayer room. The community maintained a mikveh (in Niederneisen) and a school for religious studies; details about the school’s construction or years of operation are not available, but we do know that at some point the school was closed down, after which children attended the school in Diez. The community belonged to the rabbinate in Diez and, later, to the rabbinate in Bad Ems (later, Ems- Weilburg). Burials were conducted in Diez until 1921, when the Jews of Flacht consecrated their own small cemetery southwest of the Christian cemetery. In 1932, seven Jewish children from Flacht studied religion in Diez. Elias Hahn was the community leader that year. Between 1933 and 1939, 26 Jews left Flacht. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was ravaged, as was other Jewish property. Jewish men were deported to concentration camps that night; Julius Saalberg, a local Jew, was shot in Buchenwald at the beginning of 1939. At least 20 former Jewish residents of Flacht and three from Niederneisen perished in the Shoah. The synagogue was eventually converted into a residence; a memorial stone was unveiled at the cemetery in 1962.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL