Gemuenden

General information: First Jewish presence: 13th century; peak Jewish population: 100 in 1900; Jewish population in 1933: 67
Summary: The first available record of a Jewish presence in Gemuenden mentions the Rindfleisch massacres of 1298, when the Jewish community was destroyed. Several Jews settled there during the latter half of the 14th century, but it was not until the 17th century that a new Jewish community was established in Gemuenden. The 19th-century community, bolstered by the arrival of large numbers of rural Jews, inaugurated a synagogue on Plattnersgasse in 1887 (renovated in 1932); adjacent to it were a Jewish school and a mikveh. Burials were conducted in Pfaffenhausen and, later, in Laudenbach. In 1930, 70 Jews still lived in Gemuenden, of whom 20 left after the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws; another 27 Jews left Gemuenden in mid-1938. On Pogrom Night, an SA-led mob demolished the synagogue’s interior and destroyed its ritual objects. Jewish apartments were also wrecked that night, after which the remaining Jews were forced to clear the rubble left in the wake of the destruction. Gemuenden’s Jewish community was dissolved immediately after Pogrom Night. Only two Jews remained, and they were deported in 1942. The synagogue building was torn down after the war. At the site, now a parking lot, a memorial plaque commemorates the destroyed synagogue.
Author / Sources: Benjamin Rosendahl
Sources: AJ, EJL, LJG, YV
Located in: bavaria