Angenrod

General information: First Jewish presence: 16th century; peak Jewish population: 247 in 1861 (41.9% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 63
Summary: Local Jews conducted services in prayer halls in Angenrod until 1797, when the newly and officially founded Jewish community established a synagogue and a mikveh on the Judengasse. In the late 1870s, after the community’s elementary school became a general school, the village’s schoolchildren studied religion with a teacher of religious studies; after World War I, this post was held by a teacher from Alsfeld. The local Jewish cemetery, consecrated in the mid-18th century, also served other regional communities. In 1933, a chevra kadisha, a women’s association and a charity association were active in Angenrod. The synagogue’s interior was destroyed on Pogrom Night; the ark, Torah scrolls and ritual objects were damaged, as were Jewish homes. Jewish men were sent to Buchenwald. During the Nazi period, over half of Angenrod’s Jewish cemetery was cleared. Twenty-four Jews moved to Angenrod after 1933, and a Jewish baby was born there. Twenty-one Jews emigrated, 51 relocated within Germany and eight died in Angenrod. In September 1942, five Jews (including two children) were deported to Theresienstadt; three were deported to the East. At least 44 Angenrod Jews and two from Leusel (an affiliated community) perished in the Shoah. The former synagogue was demolished in 1962, after which a garden was planted on the site. The cemetery houses a memorial.
Author / Sources: Nurit Borut; Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF
Located in: hesse