Kirf

First Jewish presence: early 19th century; peak Jewish population: 117 in 1905 (18% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 78

The Jews of Kirf were members of Freudenburg’s Jewish community until the mid-19th century. The Kirf Jews inaugurated a synagogue during the latter half of that century, prior to which they had attended the services in Freudenburg. (In 1824, the authorities had turned down a request to build a synagogue in Kirf.) Beginning, at the latest, in 1885, local Jews hired teachers of religion who also served as cantors and ritual slaughterers. Records from 1909 mention a private Jewish elementary school (28 pupils), but it was, apparently, no longer functioning by 1913. We also know that, in 1925, a teacher of Freudenburg instructed the community’s schoolage children in religion. It was not until 1932 that a Jewish cemetery was consecrated in Kirf. Seventy-eight Jews lived in Kirf in 1933. A welfare association was active in the community that year. In the years 1934 to 1936, anti-Semitic thugs often smashed windows in Jewish homes and in the synagogue. Later, on Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue was destroyed. Thirty Kirf Jews managed to emigrate; another 44 relocated to other towns and cities in Germany. When World War II broke out in September 1939, all of Kirf ’s inhabitants, including the remaining Jews, were evacuated to central Germany. At least 27 Kirf Jews perished in the Shoah. The Jewish cemetery was desecrated during the Nazi period. According to records, the synagogue building was sold after the war.

Rachel Borut

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

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