Rauischholzhausen

Summary: Records offer scant information about the Jewish community of Rauischholzhausen, but we do know that it maintained a synagogue, a school, a mikveh and a Jewish cemetery. There are differing opinions as to the origin of the synagogue. One source claims that in 1849, through the largesse of one of its members, the community acquired a spacious building and converted it into a synagogue, a school and a mikveh; the same source claims that a few years later the community made plans to erect a second floor, but that those plans were never realized. According to another source, a synagogue was not built in Rauischholzhausen until 1872. With regard to the demise of the synagogue, once again there are two opinions, one of which maintains that in 1935 local hoodlums destroyed the synagogue and broke the windows and doors of the few remaining Jewish homes. Another source, however, argues that only the synagogue was destroyed on Pogrom Night. The cemetery houses several intact headstones.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: DJGH, LJG