Mardorf

Summary: It was during the 19th century that the Jewish community of Mardorf experienced gradual growth. Local Jews, most of whom were traders of cattle, fruit or other produce, maintained a synagogue, a school for religious studies and a mikveh, all three of which also served the adjacent Jewish communities. Services were conducted in private residences until the 1860s, when the community purchased a barn (it was located in the center of town) and converted it into a synagogue sanctuary with seats for 38 men and 28 women. We also know that the community’s teacher served as chazzan and shochet. The anti-Jewish boycott of 1933 prompted all those who could do so to abandon their businesses and flee, so that by 1938 there were only 14 Jews left to witness the destruction of the synagogue, whose windows and interior were, respectively, smashed and gutted by members of the local SA. The building, however, was not set on fire, and was eventually transferred to private ownership, after which it reverted to its former use as a barn. Those few Jews who did not manage to flee Mardorf perished in the camps. One Jewish family returned to Mardorf: Ilse Flachmann, her husband (whom she met in the camps) and her father, Israel Heinemann (a decorated war hero from World War I). They eventually moved to Marburg and died there.

Author / Sources: Harold Slutzkin
Sources: AJ, DJGH