Mogendorf

Summary: By 1746, if not earlier, the Jews of Mogendorf had established a prayer room in a private residence. Later, in 1850, they inaugurated a synagogue on Fuhrgasse; the new synagogue accommodated 80 men, 25 women, a school and a mikveh. Burials were conducted in nearby Selters. In 1933, two children studied religion with a teacher from Selters. (According to records, the community was able to employ a teacher in the late 1800s.) On the morning after Pogrom Night, the village’s Jews were locked in the school house as axe-wielding SS men in civilian clothing destroyed the synagogue’s interior, Jewish homes and Jewish-owned properties; neighboring residents, concerned for the safety of their own homes, prevented the SS from setting fire to the synagogue. Eight Jews left Mogendorf before Pogrom Night, and the rest fled soon afterwards, the last leaving in 1939. At least eight local Jews perished in the Shoah. Wartime aerial bombings further damaged the synagogue. In 1952, a local Evangelical church acquired the building. Subsequent renovations removed all traces of the former synagogue.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans Sources: EJL, JVM, PK-HNF, SG-RPS, YV