Thuer

General information: First Jewish presence: early 1800s; peak Jewish population: 37 in 1895; Jewish population in 1933: 19
Summary: Records shed very little light on the origins of this Jewish community. All that we know for certain, in fact, is that Thuer’s Jews established a prayer room and a cemetery in the early 1800s. In 1864, the Jews of Thuer, together with Jews from the neighboring villages of Kottenheim, Niedermendig and Obermendig, founded a joint Jewish community. One synagogue was to serve all three villages, but the three groups bickered for years about where the house of worship would be built. Finally, in 1866, the community decided to build two synagogues: one in Thuer (serving the Jews of Thuer and Kottenheim), the other in Niedermendig (serving the Jews of Niedermendig and Obermendig). On Pogrom Night, the synagogue in Thuer was vandalized and destroyed. In Thuer, a memorial plaque was later unveiled at the site of the Jewish cemetery.
Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: AJ, SG-RPS