Edelfingen

General information: First Jewish presence: unknown: peak Jewish population: 198 in 1858; Jewish population in 1933: 86
Summary: Jews were murdered in Edelfingen during the Black Death pogroms of 1348-49. Records from 1538 mention a Jewish presence, and we know that a Jewish community was functioning in Edelfingen in 1590. The Jews of Edelfingen established the following institutions: a prayer hall in 1680; a synagogue in 1791 (renovated in 1862/63); a Jewish elementary school in the 1830s (it was closed in 1918); a cemetery in Unterbalbach; and, finally, a mikveh. Eighty-six Jews lived in Edelfingen in 1933; six children studied religion with a teacher/chazzan. A chevra kadisha, a women’s association and a charity association were active in Edelfingen that year. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was broken into and its ritual objects destroyed. A Jewish home was damaged heavily, and nine Jews were sent to Dachau. Five Jewish babies were born in Edelfingen after 1933. Sixty-three local Jews emigrated, eight died in Edelfingen and 10 relocated within Germany. The remaining 10 Jews were eventually deported to the East. According to records, at least 20 Edelfingen Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue was destroyed in a 1945 bombing raid. Its chuppah stone (marriage dedication stone) survived the bombing, and was placed in the town hall building in the 1980s.
Author / Sources: Maren Cohen and Nurit Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-BW
Located in: baden-wuerttemberg