Jugenheim

General information: First Jewish presence: five families in 1808; peak Jewish population: 67 in 1861; Jewish population in 1933: unknown
Summary: Jugenheim, a small village in the Mainz-Bingen district (now part of Nieder-Olm in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz) was overwhelmingly Protestant. The earliest available records of a Jewish presence there are documents pertaining to tax rosters from the early 18th century. In the mid-19th century, when approximately 60 Jews lived in Jugenheim, a prayer room was established on the second floor of a private residence on Hintergasse. For a few years, the community also maintained a Jewish school. Violent acts of ant-Semitism broke out in Jugenheim in the 1880s. By 1927, the Jewish population had dwindled significantly, and the prayer room, which had until then also served the neighboring villages, fell into disuse. On November 10, 1938 (Pogrom Night), hordes of locals burned down the residence in which the prayer room had been housed, leaving intact only the foundational wall; they also destroyed several Jewish homes and burned the burial society’s wagon. There were no Jews left in Jugenheim in 1939.
Author / Sources: Fred Gottlieb
Sources: EJL, LJG, SG-RPS