Villingen

Summary: The medieval Jewish community in Villingen was destroyed during the Black Death pogroms of 1348/49. Jews were expelled from the town in 1510, and it was not until 1895 that a new Jewish community was established there, albeit as a sub-community of Randegg, where Villingen’s Jewish burials were conducted. Villingen’s Jews established a prayer room at 33 Gerberstrasse, the home of a local Jewish cattle trader, in the late 1880s. By the 1920s, services were held there only sporadically, but a teacher/shochet from Randegg still commuted to the town once a week. In 1933, 60 Jews lived in Villingen. Because Jews from other towns had moved to Villingen, 75 Jewish residents were registered there by year’s end. The prayer room was burned on Pogrom Night, and its owner was assaulted. Four Jewish men were sent to Dachau. Forty-two Villingen Jews emigrated, ten relocated within Germany, six died in the town and 11 were deported to Gurs on October 22, 1940. At least 16 Villingen Jews died during the Shoah. The house in which the Villingen Jews held their religious services still exists; in 1978, a plaque was unveiled nearby. The current Jewish inhabitants of Villingen are members of the Jewish community of Rottweil.

Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK BW