Homburg am Main

Summary: Jews in Homburg am Main were killed in the anti-Jewish Rindfleisch massacres of 1298 and the Armleder massacres of 1336/37. A community was re-established in the 17th century; by century’s end, it had established a prayer hall. In 1783, local Jews inaugurated a new synagogue whose school (1859-1878) was presided over by a teacher who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. The community maintained its own mikveh, but conducted burials in Karbach. In 1933, eight schoolchildren studied religion in Homburg; two charity associations were active in the community that year. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was attacked, its windows broken. The Nazis burned down the synagogue on Christmas Day of that year (1938). During the Nazi period, 10 Homburg Jews emigrated and 12 relocated within Germany. Five were deported to Izbica (via Wuerzburg) in April 1942; and two, the last, were sent to Wuerzburg in June 1942, from where they were deported to Theresienstadt in September. At least 18 Homburg Jews died in the Shoah. The walls of the synagogue’s ground floor—they had survived the fire—were later incorporated into a new commercial and residential building at 26 Maintalstrasse. A memorial plaque has been unveiled in Homburg.

Author / Sources: Yaakov Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK BAV