Ober Ramstadt

General information: First Jewish presence: 18th century; peak Jewish population: 95 in 1871; Jewish population in 1933: 73

Summary: The Jews of Nieder (“Lower”) Ramstadt (nine in 1830), were affiliated with the Jewish community of Ober Ramstadt (Upper Ramstadt). Services were conducted in a prayer hall (located in a private residence) until the 1880s, when a synagogue was built at 7 Hammergasse. The community used the cemetery in Dieburg, but was able to maintain its own mikveh and a school for religious studies, the latter of which was presided over by a teacher who also performed the duties of chazzan and shochet. Eight schoolchildren received religious instruction in 1931/32. A women’s association and a branch of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith were active in the community. The synagogue’s interior and ritual objects were destroyed on Pogrom Night, after which the building was set on fire (as were several Jewish homes). Jewish families were attacked, their homes and businesses damaged, their property was destroyed. More than 200 locals participated in the riots. The synagogue’s ruins were demolished in 1939. By 1939, 48 Jews had emigrated (37 went to the United States), 15 had moved elsewhere Germany and seven had passed away. Eight Jews were deported to Poland in March 1942, and seven to Theresienstadt in September 1942. At least 34 Ober Ramstadt Jews perished in the Shoah. A memorial stone was unveiled at the synagogue site, now a parking lot, in 1983.

Photo: On the morning after Pogrom Night, residents of Ober-Ramstadt watch as the synagogue is destroyed by fire. The local fire department prevented the fire from spreading to a nearby home, but did not try to limit the damage to the synagogue. Courtesy of: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Art. No. 23609/Trudy Isenberg.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn
Sources: AJ, DJGH, EJL, PK-HNF, SIA, YV
www.ushmm.org/propaganda/archive/kristallnacht-ober- ramstadt/

Located in: hesse