Guntersblum

General information: First Jewish presence: 1548; peak Jewish population: 169 in 1834; Jewish population in 1933: 40
Summary: The earliest available reference to a synagogue in Guntersblum is dated 1744; later, in 1769/70, the community established a new synagogue at 12 Bleichstrasse (renovated in 1860 or 1862). The Jews of Guntersblum also maintained a cemetery—first documented in 1829 and enlarged in 1893— and a Jewish school, the latter of which was established in 1824 (possibly 1830) and moved to 1 Viehgasse in 1839 (the building also housed a mikveh). The school, however, closed down in 1914, after which the community employed a teacher of religion who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. By 1933, synagogue services were no longer held on a regular basis. One day before Pogrom Night, the head of the municipality urged the village’s 12 remaining Jews to flee. On Pogrom Night itself, rioters damaged and partially burned the synagogue’s interior and ritual objects. Three Jewish community leaders who had not managed to escape were forced to march the Torah scrolls through the village as a crowd hurled stones and verbal abuse. At the marketplace, where a prepared pile of wood awaited them, the Jews were forced to burn the scrolls; one man refused, and was accordingly beaten. The three community leaders were arrested, Jewish-owned homes and businesses were ransacked and a Jewish woman was locked inside a chicken coop. One month later, in December 1938, a local resident bought the synagogue building, after which it was used as a storage site. Under Nazi rule, 17 Jews emigrated, 21 relocated within Germany and three, the village’s last, were deported to the East in September 1942. At least 38 Guntersblum Jews perished in the Shoah. The cemetery was desecrated in 1969. Placed under state protection in 1984, the synagogue building was renovated in 1996. A memorial plaque has been affixed to the former Jewish school.
Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF