Gross-Krotzenburg

Summary: At Gross-Krotzenburg’s Jewish cemetery, the earliest extant gravestone is dated 1719. The town’s (now former) synagogue, on Steingasse, was built in 1826, and enlarged in 1864 to include 94 seats for men and 50 for women. Loeb Waller’s residence housed a mikveh and a teacher’s apartment. The community established a Jewish elementary school in 1855 (renovated in 1878): in 1873, 26 students attended classes offered by Samuel Spier from Langendiebach; Julius Schuster was the teacher from 1924 until the disbanding of the school in 1933. Other communal institutions included a synagogue choir, a women’s club, a chevra kadisha and a health fund. Many Jews left town after 1933. Ten Jews died in Gross- Krotzenburg between 1933 and 1939. On Pogrom Night, over 100 residents looted and vandalized Jewish properties, burned holy books and vandalized the cemetery. Jewish men (all 28) were arrested and deported to Buchenwald that night. The furniture in the synagogue was smashed, but the building remained intact. By 1940, no Jews lived in Gross-Krotzenburg. At least 40 local Jews died in the Shoah. The synagogue was converted into a church after the war and rebuilt as a clubhouse in 1974. A museum of Jewish history is located there today.

Author / Sources: Swetlana Frank
Sources: AJ, DJGH, EJL, FJG, LJG, SIH