Altenschoenbach

Summary: The Jews of Altenschoenbach built a synagogue in 1843. In 1850, 27 pupils attended the Jewish school under the guidance of a teacher who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. Although local Jews were able to maintain their own mikveh, they conducted burials in Gerolzheim. 16 A Memorial to the Synagogues of Germany Altenstadt (Hesse) In 1933, the 15 Jews of Altenschoenbach lived under the jurisdiction of the Schweinfurt district rabbinate. The school had been closed, but students continued to study religion in the synagogue classroom. Thirteen Jews were living in Altenschoenbach on Pogrom Night. On that fateful evening, SA men from Kitzingen and Altenschoenbach, aided by local children, destroyed the synagogue and ransacked Jewish homes. Jewish women were arrested alongside Jewish men and imprisoned in Gerolzhofen; the women were released the following day, but the men were detained for over a week. One Jewish man was sent to Dachau. Between 1939 and 1940, four Altenschoenbach Jews relocated within Germany. By 1942, only seven remained: one died in Altenschoenbach, and five were deported to Izbica, via Wuerzburg, in April 1942. In September, Altenschoenbach’s last Jew was sent to a retirement home in Wuerzburg, from which he was deported to Theresienstadt. The synagogue was later converted into an apartment building.

Author / Sources: Maren Cohen; Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV, SIA