Unsleben

Summary: The Jewish community of Unsleben, founded in the 18th century, established a synagogue in 1753; an elementary school in 1840 (closed in 1939); a new synagogue, on Schlossstrasse, in 1855; and, finally, a cemetery in 1856. (The community used the cemetery in Kleinbardorf until 1856.) In 1839, 19 Unsleben Jews moved to the United States, where they founded a congregation in Cleveland. Ten pupils attended the Jewish school in 1933. Several Jewish associations, including a branch of the Keren Kayemet Jewish National Fund for Israel, were active in Unsleben that year. In September 1938, after riots broke out in neighboring Mellrichstadt, the Torah scrolls from the Unsleben synagogue were hidden away; they were brought to the United States after World War II. The synagogue was damaged on Pogrom Night, and 12 Jews were arrested and imprisoned in Bad Neustadt. After the pogrom, the municipality appropriated the synagogue building and used it as a woodshed. During the Nazi period, 100 Unsleben Jews emigrated and 22 relocated within Germany. In April 1942, ten of the remaining Jews were deported to Izbica; in June 1942, five were moved to Wuerzburg, from where they were later deported to Theresienstadt. At least 50 Unsleben Jews died in the Shoah. Two memorial stones were later unveiled in Unsleben: one at the cemetery (in 1975), the other near the former synagogue site (in 2008).

Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK BAV cleveland.ujcfedweb.org