General information: First Jewish presence: 1580 or 1589; peak Jewish population: 57 in 1814 (15% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: 6
Summary: Jews settled in Acholshausen (near Wuerzburg) in the 1580s, but the records reveal very little about the community’s early period. A trade registry from 1817 lists nine Jewish families, and we also know that many local Jews left the town during the latter half of the 19th century. The community established a synagogue in 1850 or 1882. Acholshausen was also home to a mikveh and a school for religious studies, the latter of which was presided over by a teacher/shochet who also served the Gaukoenigshofen community; Der Israelit newspaper posted an ad for this position on January 8, 1891. Burials were conducted in Allersheim. As a result of dwindling membership numbers, the Acholshausen Jews eventually lost their status as an autonomous Jewish community. In 1919, the remaining Jews joined the community in Gaukoenigshofen. Although the synagogue was no longer in use on Pogrom Night, rioters nevertheless ravaged the building. In 1944, the heavily damaged structure was destroyed during an air raid. 5 Adelebsen (Lower Saxony) Pogrom Night 1938 ￼Nine Acholshausen Jews perished in the Shoah. In 1942, a Jewish couple—the town’s only remaining Jews— was deported to Izbica (near Lublin, Poland), as were the remaining Jews of Gaukoenigshofen. Acholshausen, now part of Gaukoenigshofen (since 1975), is no longer home to a Jewish community. Although the synagogue ruins still exist, a memorial was never erected on the site.
Author / Sources: Benjamin Rosendahl; Sources: AJ, EJL, YV
Located in: bavaria