Zeckendorf

Summary: Zeckendorf’s Jewish cemetery, initially shared with the Jews of Bamberg, was consecrated in the 16th century; in 1784, the Jews of Demmelsdorf and of other nearby communities started conducting burials in the Zeckendorf cemetery. In 1658, four years after the Jewish community of Zeckendorf was founded, the village became the location of the headquarters of the state rabbinate of Bamberg. Zeckendorf’s 17th-century Jewish community maintained a synagogue (built in 1660), a Jewish school and a mikveh. Two more synagogues were later established in Zeckendorf: one in 1727 (it later burned down) and another in 1743. Five Jewish children studied religion in Zeckendorf with a teacher from Demmelsdorf in 1933. In 1936, 25 of the synagogue’s windows were smashed; the Jewish cemetery was desecrated in 1937 and again in 1940. On Pogrom Night, SS and SA men destroyed the synagogue’s interior and burned its ritual objects; approximately 100 local residents watched the destruction and threw stones through the windows. One Jewish man was deported to Dachau that night. In the fall of 1939, the synagogue was demolished, after which a vegetable garden was planted on the site. In April 1942, the village’s remaining 18 Jews were deported, via Bamberg, to Izbica. At least 23 Zeckendorf Jews perished in the Shoah. A memorial monument was unveiled at the cemetery in 1991, four years after which the cemetery was desecrated again.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-BAV