Nassau

Summary: The modern Jewish community of Nassau established a prayer room in, at the latest, 1845. In 1882, a synagogue was inaugurated at 14 Obernhofer Strasse (formerly Oberstrasse), in what had once been a church. Nassau’s Jewish cemetery was consecrated in the 18th century. In 1933, a teacher/chazzan instructed seven schoolchildren in religion. A chevra kadisha was active in the community, with which the Jews of Dausenau were affiliated. Jews and Jewish-owned stores were attacked in August 1933. Later, in 1937, Jewish children were expelled from their schools, after which the community established a Jewish school. On Pogrom Night, the interiors of the synagogue and school were destroyed; prayer books and Torah scrolls were thrown onto the street and kicked around by local children. Thirteen Jewish homes were vandalized and looted, and four Jewish men were beaten and arrested. In all, 14 local Jews emigrated, 44 relocated within Germany and eight died in Nassau. By August 1939, all Jews had left the town. At least 20 Nassau Jews perished in the Shoah. In 1945, the synagogue was destroyed in a bombing raid. The cemetery was desecrated in 1948 and in 1994; local students cleaned up the site in 1994, after which a memorial plaque was unveiled there.

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