Butzbach

General information: First Jewish presence: 1332; peak Jewish population: 148 in 1933
Summary: Jews lived in Butzbach intermittently until the mid-19th century, when they established a more permanent presence there. Prior to the foundation of the independent Jewish community of Butzbach, local Jews had been members of the Hoch-Weisel community. Butzbach was home to a “Jews’ Alley” and a synagogue by 1384. The modern community conducted services in a prayer room, located on the upper story of the town hall, until 1926, when a synagogue with a seating capacity of 120 was inaugurated on Wetzlarstrasse/ Ludwigsstrasse. Beginning in 1855, the community employed a teacher of religion, who also served as chazzan and shochet. A Jewish section was consecrated inside the general cemetery in 1892. (The 14th-century Jewish cemetery had become town property in approximately 1476.) In October 1933, two local Jews were sent to the Osthofen camp. The synagogue was burned down on Pogrom Night. Jewish homes and businesses were attacked and looted, the cemetery was desecrated and three men were sent to Buchenwald. Paula Loeb died from injuries inflicted on her that night. Seventy-three local Jews emigrated, 44 relocated within Germany and died in Butzbach. The remaining Jews were eventually moved into one home, from which 19 were deported to concentration camps in September 1942. At least 82 Butzbach Jews perished in the Shoah. The cemetery was restored in 1947, and in 1981 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the former synagogue site, which had been sold on November 14, 1938. In Butzbach, memorial stumbling stones (Stolpersteine) were unveiled in 2009.
Author / Sources: Esther Sarah Evans
Sources: AJ, EJL, PK-HNF
www.stadt-butzbach.de
www.bfbag.de
Located in: hesse