Biebrich
General information: First Jewish presence: 1642; peak Jewish population: 141 in 1843; Jewish population in 1933: 150
Summary: In 1823, the Jews of Mosbach were affiliated with the
Jewish community of Biebrich. The community established
a Talmud Torah in the early 18th century; a synagogue, at
37 Rathausstrasse, in 1829/30; and a cemetery in 1890.
Local Jews employed a teacher of religion who also served
as chazzan and shochet; Dr. Seligmann Baer, who held this
post between 1856 and 1897, edited the Avodat Israel
prayer book, which became the definitive prayer book for
Central European Jewish communities. The community
maintained its own mikveh, but conducted burials in
Wiesbaden.
Toni Sender (1888-1964), daughter of the community’s
chairman and a prominent communist, was one of the first
women elected to the Reichstag, where she served until 1933.
That same year, 150 Jews lived in Biebrich.
The synagogue’s interior was destroyed on Pogrom Night,
as were Jewish homes and businesses. Most Jews managed to
leave Biebrich. Those remaining were eventually deported
to the East, some to Theresienstadt, via Wiesbaden, in April
1943. At least 30 local Jews perished in the Shoah.
The synagogue building was destroyed during an aerial
bombing in 1944. The ruins were subsequently cleared, and
after the war a house and a commercial building were built
on the site. In 1979, a memorial plaque was affixed to the
council building.
Author / Sources: Nurit Borut
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF
Located in: hesse