Bad Koenigshofen im Grabfeld

Summary: Local Jews were persecuted during the Rindfleisch massacres of 1298 and the Black Death pogroms of 1348/49. The records indicate that Jews lived in the town in 1580 and 1746. The community’s first synagogue, presumably built in the mid-19th century, also housed a school and a mikveh; this synagogue was renovated in 1929. In 1904, another house of worship was inaugurated at Unteressfelderstrasse (later renamed Bamburgerstrasse). Burials were conducted in nearby Kleinbardorf until 1921, when the community consecrated its own cemetery. In 1933, four Jewish associations were active in Bad Koenigshofen. Eighteen children attended the Jewish school. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue’s interior was destroyed; Jewish men were forced to chop up the Torah ark and the furniture for firewood, after which the building was burned down. That same night, all of the cemetery’s gravestones were smashed. Eight Jewish men were deported to Dachau. Forty-two Bad Koenigshofen Jews emigrated, 47 relocated within Germany and seven died in the town. The last six Jews, sent to Kleineibstadt in August 1941, were deported to Izbica in April 1942. At least 29 local Jews perished in the Shoah. A memorial stone was later unveiled at the former synagogue site.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans; Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV