Rimpar

Summary: In 1792, the Jewish community of Rimpar inaugurated a synagogue on the Judenplatz, or “Jews’ square”, (later renamed Marktplatz); the synagogue, damaged in the anti- Jewish Hep-Hep riots of 1819, was renovated and enlarged in 1852. Local Jews were able to maintain a community center (it housed a classroom and a mikveh) but buried their dead in Schwanfeld. Three brothers of the Lehman family (natives of Rimpar) immigrated to the United States in the 1840s; their descendants later founded Lehman Brothers, the international investment bank. In 1933, a Jewish teacher/chazzan instructed 11 pupils in religion. A chevra kadisha and a Jewish women’s association were active in the town that year. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue’s furniture and ritual items were destroyed; local Jews were assaulted that night. Twenty-three Rimpar Jews left Germany (all but one immigrated to the United States) and 14 relocated within the country. Of the nine Jews who still lived in Rimpar in 1942, six were deported to Izbica, via Wuerzburg, in April of that year; the last three were sent to Wuerzburg’s Jewish old-age home in July 1942, and deported to Theresienstadt in September. At least 16 Rimpar Jews perished in the Shoah. The Rimpar synagogue was later used as a warehouse. A memorial plaque was unveiled at the town hall in 1989.

Author / Sources: Yaakov Borut
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK BAV