Montabaur
General information: First Jewish presence: 1338; peak Jewish population: 117 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 82
Summary: The earliest records of a Jewish presence in Montabaur refer
to the anti-Jewish persecutions of 1338 and
1348/49. It is quite possible that individual
Jews lived in Montabaur in the 15th and 16th
centuries, but it was not until the 17th century
that an organized community emerged there.
Montabaur Jews had established a synagogue
by 1691; founded a prayer room in the mid-
18th century; a new synagogue, at 5 Wallstrasse,
in 1889 (renovated in 1930); and a cemetery
in 1910. We also know that the community
maintained a school and a mikveh.
In 1933, a teacher/chazzan instructed nine
children in religion. A women’s group and a
youth association were active in the community,
with which the Jews of Wirges were affiliated.
The synagogue was broken into on the night of November 3, 1938; some ritual objects were destroyed that night, and others were stolen.
On Pogrom Night, rioters destroyed the synagogue’s
interior, assaulted local Jews and wrecked Jewish-owned
homes and businesses. A Jewish man and his daughter
committed suicide, another Jew died trying to escape,
and others were marched to the town hall and beaten.
Jewish men were sent to Buchenwald.
Forty-one Montabaur Jews emigrated while
others relocated within Germany. In August 1941,
the town’s remaining eight Jews were deported to a
camp in Friedrichssegen-Lahn; of these, four died in
Friedrichssegen-Lahn and four were deported to Poland
in September 1942. At least 26 local Jews perished in
the Shoah.
The synagogue was demolished in the 1940s,
but a memorial plaque was later unveiled at the site.
Montabaur’s Jewish cemetery was desecrated in 1943
and again in 1983.
Photo: On the right, the synagogue of Montabaur. Courtesy of: City Archive of Montabaur.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans;
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF; genealogy.net/vereine/ArGeWe/jiw/Reichskristallnacht_
in_Montabaur/Reichskristallnacht_in_Montabaur.h
Located in: rhineland-palatinate