Homburg/Saar

First Jewish presence: 1686; peak Jewish population: 281 in 1824; Jewish population in 1933: 163

Although the Jewish community of Homburg was founded in 1823, a prayer hall had existed there since the second half of the 18th century. The community consecrated a cemetery in 1823; a synagogue in 1862 (6 Kosterstrasse); a mikveh (unknown date of construction); and a school in 1864. The school, which was presided over by a teacher who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet, closed in 1911. A new cemetery was consecrated in Homburg in 1934, but it was seldom used. In 1933, eight children studied religion in Homburg. A welfare society, a women’s association, a society for Jewish literature and history, and a youth society were active in the community, with which the Jews of Waldmohr were affiliated. The community was dissolved in 1935, when only four or five Jewish families lived in Homburg. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), SS men demolished the synagogue’s interior and removed the Star of David from the north gable; five Jewish men were sent to Dachau. In 1939, the municipality appropriated the partially burned synagogue building, which was later damaged during a wartime bombing. One hundred and thirty-five Jews left Homburg/Saar. On October 22, 1940, the remaining 17 Jews were deported to Gurs. Twenty-nine local Jews were murdered in the Shoah. In 2003, a section of the former synagogue—part of the structure was demolished in 1992—was opened as a memorial site.

Esther Sarah Evans

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

---