Geroda

Summary: Geroda’s modern Jewish community conducted services at 11 Dorfstrasse until 1907, when a new synagogue was dedicated at 6 Kirchberg; next door was a community center that housed a teacher’s apartment and a mikveh. Together with the Jews of Platz and Schondra, the Geroda community employed a teacher of religion who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. In Geroda, a Jewish cemetery was consecrated in 1910. Two charity associations were active in Geroda in 1933. In 1936/37, prospective immigrants to Palestine received agricultural training in the village. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue interior, community center and Jewish homes were destroyed. All Jewish men under the age of 55 were sent, via Brueckenau, to Dachau, where two of them died. One year later, on the anniversary of Pogrom Night, Jews were taken from their homes and brutally beaten; five were seriously wounded, but several survived due to the intervention of a Christian physician, Dr. Staab. Ten Geroda Jews emigrated and 19 relocated within Germany. Nine local Jews were deported to Izbica (via Wuerzburg) in April 1942, and five were sent to Theresienstadt (also via Wuerzburg) in September 1942. At least 22 Geroda Jews perished in the Shoah. The synagogue building was later converted into a community center. A memorial plaque has been unveiled there.

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