Guldenthal

Residential - Guldenthal, Rhineland-Palatinate

First Jewish presence: early 1800s; peak Jewish population: 50 in 1858; Jewish population in 1933: 26

In the mid-1800s, Jews from the small villages of Heddesheim and Guldenthal/Waldhilbersheim founded a Jewish community. Religious services were conducted in a rented room in Guldenthal—less than ideal accommodation, for the room often became overcrowded—until 1910, when the community purchased an inexpensive house and converted it into a synagogue; a modest building, it did not require much renovation. The inauguration ceremony was attended by local dignitaries. On Pogrom Night, the interior of the synagogue was plundered and destroyed: windows were smashed; doors were broken down; Torah scrolls were ripped into shreds; silver goblets, candelabra, and ornaments were destroyed; and the ark, pulpit, benches and furniture were broken. In 1939, the building was sold to a neighboring resident who bricked up the windows and used the site as a storage facility. The town of Guldenthal took over the building in 1994, after which it was classified as a memorial site.

Moshe Finkel

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

Notes

Sources: Alemannia Judaica, www.alemannia-judaica.de The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, Shmuel Spector [Ed.], [publisher] Yad Vashem and the New York University Press, 2001., “und dies ist die Pforte des Himmels”: Synagogen Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland, Will Schmid, Stefan Fischbach and Ingrid Westerhoff [Eds.], publication initiated by Joachim Glatz and Meier Schwarz, [publisher] Phillipp Von Zabern, 2005.

Details

Date Added	Apr 20, 2020
Category	Residential
Country	DE
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
City	Guldenthal
Exhibits	Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany

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Guldenthal

First Jewish presence: early 1800s; peak Jewish population: 50 in 1858; Jewish population in 1933: 26

Moshe Finkel

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

Notes

Details

Have additional information, photos, connections, or other resources to contribute?

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Jason Guberman-P., A social entrepreneur who specializes in building broad coalitions and melding intellectual and technical innovation, serves as founding Executive Director of Digital Heritage Mapping and is the coordinator of the Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life.

Joshua Shamsi

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Joshua Shamsi, is Project Director for the Atlas of Jewish Life and Lead Photographer/Outreach Director for the Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life.

Eddie Ashkenazie

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Eddie Ashkenazie, is a Yeshiva University PhD student focusing his studies on the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in the modern era.

Avital Hirsch

Avital Hirsch graduated Magna Cum Laude from Binghamton University with a BA in language and linguistics. She has studied in Rome at Istituto Lorenzo de Medici.

Glenn Dynner

Editor

Glenn Dynner. Professor of Religion, Sarah Lawrence College. BA, Brandeis University. MA, McGill University. PhD, Brandeis University. Scholar of East European Jewry with a focus on the social history of Hasidism and the Haskalah.

Chrystie Sherman

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Born in Chicago, Chrystie Sherman was educated at the University of Vermont, the University of Paris, and New York University Graduate School of Film and Television.

Gentian Xhaxiu

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Gentian Xhaxhiu, was born in Tirana, Albania, in April 1988. He has attained a Master Degree in “EU Business Law” and has successfully completed the Annual Programme of the School of Political Studies of the Council of Europe.