Dahn

Summary: Although Jews lived in Dahn as early as 1590, a formal community was not established there until 1815. In 1820, after obtaining official permission, the community inaugurated a synagogue, next door to which a small school with a mikveh in its basement was built. The synagogue was declared unsafe in 1871, after which the congregation was forced to temporarily relocate until the construction, in 1873, of a new synagogue (built on the same site). Many Jews left Dahn following the Nazis� election victories. The synagogue, which was rarely used after the mid-1933, was defunct by 1937; in 1938, the building was sold to a non-Jewish furniture manufacturer, a fact that did not prevent rioters from vandalizing it on Pogrom Night. The structure was converted into an apartment building after the war, but a close inspection of the wall reveals traces of the destroyed house of worship. A memorial plaque was affixed to the building in 1991.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: AJ, EJL, SG-RPS