Ellingen

Summary: The modern Jewish community of Ellingen inaugurated a synagogue in 1759. The building housed a mikveh and living quarters for the community’s teacher, who also functioned as chazzan and shochet. Burials were conducted in Treuchtlingen. In 1932, eight children studied religion in Ellingen. Branches of Agudat Israel and the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith were active in Ellingen that year. Beginning in 1938, Ellingen’s mayor refused to issue trading licenses to Jews. In September or October of that year, the town’s few remaining Jews sold their synagogue for a nominal price. On Pogrom Night, the mayor, a member of the Nazi Party since 1919, led a group of six SS men from Wissenburg to Ellingen’s two remaining Jewish homes. The attackers broke into these houses and destroyed everything inside; they also destroyed the synagogue’s furniture and remaining ritual objects. Nine Ellingen Jews immigrated to the United States or to Palestine; sixteen moved to other German cities. At least 17 Ellingen Jews perished in the Shoah. In 1945, some of the synagogue’s ritual objects were found in a barn belonging to a local Nazi, but these later disappeared. The synagogue was later converted into a residential property.

Author / Sources: Magret Liat Wolf and Bronagh Bowerman
Sources AJ, PK BAV
www.juden-in-ellingen.de