Eppelsheim

First Jewish presence: 1722; peak Jewish population: 70 in 1828 and 1830; Jewish population in 1933: 17

The Jewish community of Eppelsheim was founded in or around 1800. A Jewish cemetery (located northwest of the village) was consecrated in 1833 and used by the Jews of Eppelsheim, Gundersheim and Westhofen. Although the community drew up plans for the construction of a synagogue (at 7 Blaugasse) in 1841/42, it was only in 1850, after securing the necessary funds from the communities in Worms and Frankfurt, that the synagogue was opened. During the Weimar period, only four Jewish families lived in Eppelsheim. Seventeen Jews lived there in 1933, most of whom left after the Nazis came to power. Accordingly, the Jewish community was dissolved in 1935. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), rioters destroyed the defunct synagogue’s interior. Under Nazi rule, seven Eppelsheim Jews emigrated, 14 relocated within Germany and one passed away in the village. Eppelsheim’s last Jews left in the summer of 1939. At least three local Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building—it was used as a toolshed after World War II—was torn down in 1973. A memorial plaque has been affixed to the front gate of the village’s Protestant church.

Heidemarie Wawrzyn

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

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