Wollenberg

First Jewish presence: in or around the year 1660; peak Jewish population: 156 in 1841 (36.6% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 21

In Wollenberg, Jews initially lived in a designated “Jews’ house” (“Judenhaus”), first documented in 1667. In 1790, a new building was erected in Wollenberg; it accommodated 13 residential units, a synagogue, a butcher’s shop, a bakery, a mikveh and a small stable for cattle. Another Jewish apartment building was erected nearby in 1795; it housed six families. By 1727, a prayer hall had been opened in the Judenhaus; the apartment building erected in 1790 also housed one. In order to accommodate the growing Jewish community, a new synagogue—the building contained a school and an apartment for the teacher—was built on Deinhardstrasse in 1825. Wollenberg Jews were able to hire teachers, all of whom served as cantors and ritual slaughterers, until the outbreak of World War I. Burials were conducted in Waibstadt. From the 1920s onwards, the community limited synagogue services to Saturdays and holidays, as too few Jews lived in Wollenberg to warrant regular services. In 1933, 21 Jews lived in Wollenberg; one schoolchild received religious instruction. The synagogue was destroyed on Pogrom Night, after which the remaining Jews were not only forced to transfer ownership of the site, free of charge, to the town authorities, but also to pay for the removal of the rubble. Three local Jews emigrated, nine relocated within Germany and two died in Wollenberg. On October 22, 1940, the remaining 11 Jews were deported to the concentration camp in Gurs, France. At least 13 Wollenberg Jews perished in the Shoah. The remaining ruins of the synagogue were removed in 1965; in 1971, the site was sold to neighboring landowners.

Heike Zaun Goshen

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

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