Reckendorf

General information: First Jewish presence: early 17th century; peak Jewish population: 302 in 1814 (31.8 % of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 20
Summary: In 1732, the Jewish community of Reckendorf replaced its prayer room with a synagogue at 3 Ahornweg; the synagogue was rededicated in 1752 (having been rebuilt after the roof collapsed) and renovated thoroughly in 1851. The community established a cemetery in 1798, a mikveh in 1821 and an elementary school in 1829 (it closed in 1910). After 1880, Reckendorf Jews no longer employed their own rabbi. By the mid-1920s, there were no longer enough Jews in Reckendorf to hold public prayer services. Accordingly, the synagogue’s ritual objects were sent to Bamberg (where they were destroyed on Pogrom Night). The synagogue’s interior was wrecked on Pogrom Night; the debris was burned on the outskirts of the village. Jewish homes were damaged severely. The village authorities appropriated the synagogue building in July 1939. Thirteen Reckendorf Jews emigrated and others relocated within Germany. In 1942, a Jewish woman from Reckendorf died in an old-age home in Wuerzburg; in April of that year, the village’s last Jewish family (three Jews) was deported, via Wuerzburg, to Izbica. At least ten Reckendorf Jews perished in the Shoah. In 2005, the former synagogue building was reopened as a cultural center; a memorial plaque was unveiled there in 2006. Items from the synagogue’s geniza (storeroom for holy books and ritual items) were discovered during renovations, and have been on display at the cultural center since 2007.
Author / Sources: Magret Liat Wolf
Sources: AJ, PK BAV
www.juden-in-bamberg.de
Located in: bavaria