Herleshausen

Summary: Jewish communities in the neighboring villages of Breitzbach (Jewish population in 1861: 10), Unhausen (1861: 5) and Wommen (1861: 7) were affiliated with the Jewish community of Herleshausen. Herleshausen was home to a synagogue on Lauchroeder Strasse—it was built in 1846—a mikveh and a Jewish elementary school, the last of which was closed in 1922. A new school was established near the synagogue in 1867, and we also know that the community maintained a cemetery at Im Oelgrund whose oldest gravestone is dated 1876. The synagogue had reached a state of dilapidation by 1927, one year after which the community inaugurated a new house of worship with 78 seats for men and 52 for women. During the construction period, services were conducted in a prayer hall at 2 Sackgasse. In 1933, 60 Jews lived in Herleshausen. A chevra kadisha and a women’s organization conducted welfare work, and although we do not know how many children studied religion that year, records do tell us that a teacher instructed three pupils in 1931/32. In Herleshausen, local Nazis pressured Christian residents to boycott Jewish-owned businesses, triggering many bankruptcies. Between 1933 and 1942, 38 local Jews emigrated from or relocated in Germany. The synagogue was destroyed on Pogrom Night, after which, in 1939, the ruins were removed. Twenty-eight local Jews were eventually deported, among them the president of the Jewish community and his wife (to Theresienstadt in 1942). At least 43 Herleshausen Jews perished in the Shoah, as did one from Wommen and two from Unhausen. In 1944, the municipality purchased the Jewish cemetery (Russian POWs are buried there). A memorial plaque, commemorating the destroyed synagogue, was unveiled in Herleshausen in 2008.

Author / Sources: Heidemarie Wawrzyn
Sources: DJGH, EJL, FJG
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