Kirchheim An Der Weinstrasse

First Jewish presence: 17th century; peak Jewish population: 93 in 1848; Jewish population in 1933: 22 (see below)

The Jews of Kirchheim conducted services in a prayer hall until 1798, when the community dedicated a synagogue next to the Jewish teacher’s residence. By 1881, however, the synagogue had deteriorated to such an extent that the community decided to build a new house of worship at 19 Hintergasse. Completed in 1890 (construction work began in 1884), the synagogue housed a classroom and living quarters for a teacher who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. The village’s Jewish cemetery, which had been consecrated in 1887, was desecrated in 1928. In mid-1933, Kirchheim’s Jewish population was 22. A Jewish women’s association was active in the community, with which the Jews of Weisenheim am Berg, Grosskarlbach and Kleinkarlbach were affiliated. On Pogrom Night, rioters destroyed the synagogue’s interior. The cemetery was damaged later that month, after which the tombstones were cleared (several were used to build pigsties). In 1939, the municipality appropriated the synagogue building. Three Kirchheim Jews were deported to the concentration camp in Gurs on October 22, 1940. One Jew, who is thought to have been married to a Christian, survived the war in Kirchheim. At least 19 local Jews perished in the Shoah. Although the municipality returned the synagogue building to the regional Jewish community in 1945, the building was sold in the 1960s and converted into a residential property in or around 1970. The cemetery was restored after the war, and a monument bearing the names of those buried there was unveiled in 1947.

Esther Sarah Evans

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ germansynagogues.bh.org.il

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