Fechenbach

Summary: In 1832 (perhaps earlier), the modern Jewish community of Fechenbach built a synagogue at 12 Kleine Gasse. The Jews of Fechenbach maintained a Jewish school and a mikveh, but buried their dead in Reistenhausen. Fechenbach belonged to the Aschaffenburg district rabbinate. By the end of the 19th century, as a result of declining population numbers, the school was no longer functioning. Accordingly, teachers from nearby Jewish communities instructed the village’s remaining Jewish schoolchildren. During the 1920s, when the Fechenbach community could no longer gather a minyan, the remaining Jews attended services in Miltenberg. In 1933, 11 Jews lived in Fechenbach. By January 1938, nine of them had either emigrated or moved to other German cities. The Fechenbach community was dissolved in July 1937, after which the village’s two remaining Jews were affiliated with the Miltenberg community. On Pogrom Night, the interior of the Fechenbach synagogue and all its ritual objects were destroyed. The building itself, the mikveh, and the school were lightly damaged. Fechenbach’s last two Jews left in 1939. At least 18 Fechenbach Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building became private property in 1945. We also know that the synagogue and school were converted into a residential building at some point during the 1990s.

Author / Sources: Magret Liat Wolf
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV
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