Neuhof

Summary: All but one Jewish family were expelled from the Fulda region in 1671. A new Jewish community was later established in Neuhof, with which the Jewish communities of Neustadt, Ellers and Opperz had been affiliated by 1905. Neuhof Jews conducted services in a prayer hall until 1876, when the community dedicated a synagogue on Frankfurter Strasse; the building accommodated 26 seats for men, 16 for women, a school, a mikveh and an apartment for a teacher who also served as chazzan and shochet. (After 1921, religious instruction was provided by a teacher from Flieden.) In 1905, prior to which burials were conducted in Fulda, the Jewish communities of Neuhof and Flieden consecrated a cemetery. In 1933, only one child received religious instruction in Flieden. A Jewish man and his Christian girlfriend were publicly humiliated in September of that year. The interior of the synagogue was ravaged on Pogrom Night; furniture that had been stored there by a community member was thrown from the women’s gallery. Several Jewish men were arrested by the SA and sent to Buchenwald, and we also know that the community leader, Max Katz, was murdered. The SA appropriated the synagogue building after Pogrom Night. Eighteen Jews emigrated, 12 relocated within Germany, one passed away in Neuhof and 17 were deported to the East. At least 32 Neuhof Jews perished in the Shoah. Neuhof’s synagogue was sold to a private buyer in 1952, after which it was renovated and used as a residence and business premises. As of this writing, a memorial plaque has not been affixed to the new building, but the mikveh was partially restored in 2008.

Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, PK- HNF
sicsa.huji.ac.il/ACTA23.pdf
nizkor.org/