Hainstadt

First Jewish presence: 16th century: peak Jewish population: 249 in 1839; Jewish population in 1933: 38

Ten or twelve Jewish families lived in Hainstadt by the turn of the 17th century. Hainstadt’s Jewish quarter was located in an area of the city called the Kellerei. The community established the following institutions: a prayer room— it housed a mikveh, private apartments and a kosher slaughterhouse—at present-day 6-8 Hornbacher; a new synagogue on present-day Buchener in 1819; and a new mikveh (built in a private residence) in 1840. We also know that local Jews maintained a Jewish school from the 1830s to 1869, and that burials were conducted in Boedigheim. In 1933, local Jewish children studied religion under the tutelage of a teacher from neighboring Buchen. The community continued to offer numerous cultural and social activities well into the Nazi period: for example, Hainstadt and neighboring Buchen opened a branch of a Zionist organization in 1934. On Pogrom Night, SA men broke into the synagogue, smashed the windows and destroyed furniture and ritual objects. The structure was not damaged severely, but the building was nevertheless later torn down, after which an apartment building was erected on the site. Eighteen Hainstadt Jews emigrated, eight relocated within Germany, seven died in Hainstadt and six were deported to Gurs in October 1940. At least 15 Hainstadt Jews perished in the Shoah.

Daniel Weiss

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

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