Oberbieber

First Jewish presence: 1781; peak Jewish population: 85 in 1895 (5.4% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: unknown

The Jewish community of Oberbieber-Rengsdorf, of which Jews from Rengsdorf, Altwied and Gladback were also members, established a synagogue in 1869, on the corner of Bergstrasse and Zum Aubachtal. The exact location of that synagogue was unknown until pages of Hebrew text were found during renovations of the area; it is likely that the texts belonged to Erich Meyer, a printer. Oberbieber Jews were able to maintain their own Jewish school (unknown location), but records do not mention a mikveh. Burials were conducted in Niederbieber. In 1925, only 25 Jews lived in Oberbieber. Most of the remaining Jews left the town after the implementation of the anti-Jewish boycott of 1933. Later on Pogrom Night (November 1938), SA men burned down the synagogue, but not before shattering its windows and vandalizing the building; members of the fire brigade were ordered to protect neighboring structures from the blaze. The site was sold on August 20, 1940. According to Yad Vashem, 31 Oberbieber Jews were killed in the Shoah. Oberbieber is no longer home to a Jewish community. A local Protestant church houses a permanent exhibition on the history of Jewish Oberbieber, and several memorial stumbling stones commemorate the community.

Benjamin Rosendahl

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

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