Bodenfelde-Uslar
General information: First Jewish presence: 1403 (Uslar), 1689 (Bodenfelde); peak Jewish population: 35 in 1885 (Uslar), 45 in 1816 (Bodenfelde); Jewish population in 1933
Summary:
In 1843, the Bodenfelde-Uslar-Wahmbeck regional Jewish
community was founded; Lippoldsberg joined in 1867. By
1933, the community was known as the joint community
of Bodenfelde-Uslar.
At some point in the 18th century, a prayer hall was
established in a private residence in Bodenfelde, in which
the Jews of Lippoldsberg and Uslar also prayed. The house
was sold in 1753, after which services were conducted in
Lippoldsberg until 1760, when another prayer room was
established in Bodenfelde. Uslar Jews prayed in their own
prayer room (it was moved on several occasions) from the
1890s onwards.
In Bodenfelde, local Jews established the following
institutions: a cemetery in the early 1820s; a synagogue in
1825; a mikveh in 1859 (used until 1890); and an elementary
school—it was presided over by a teacher who also served
as chazzan and shochet—by 1819. Uslar’s elementary school
was closed in 1895.
In 1933, five schoolchildren from Bodenfelde received
religious instruction. A chevra kadisha and a charity fund
were active in the community.
In June 1937, the authorities ordered that the community
be disbanded. The synagogue was sold to a local shoemaker
that year, after which the ritual objects were placed in the care of an elderly brother and sister who, because of their
poverty and advanced age, could not leave.
On Pogrom Night, local residents prevented the SA from
burning down the synagogue and the remaining Jewish
house; the two elderly Jews were driven out of their home
by a mob. Later, in September, 1939, SA men damaged the
cemetery.
Nine Bodenfelde Jews emigrated and six relocated within
Germany. In July 1942, the two elderly Jews were deported to
the East; and in December 1938, Uslar’s last Jewish resident,
a Jewish woman who had converted to Christianity, left the
town. At least 31 Jews from Bodenfelde and Uslar perished
in the Shoah.
The cemetery was fully restored in 1990; the synagogue
building is now a storage site. In 1988, a memorial plaque
was unveiled at the site of the former prayer hall.
Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: GUVN, PK-NW, SH
Sources: GUVN, PK-NW, SH
Located in: lower-saxony