A „Judenschule“ (Jewish school) or synagogue established in a house is first referenced in 1758. Two other synagogues there were destroyed by fire (in 1781 and 1857).

A new synagogue was ceremoniously dedicated in September 1859, which became the centre of the local Jewish community for the coming decades. An apartment for the teacher and a school hall were situated on the ground floor, while the prayer room was established on the upper floor.

The first local branch of the NSDAP began forming already in 1919 after the speech by the anti-Semite, Julius Streicher. The „Hitler-Rowdies“ (Jewish liberal newspaper from 14 Sept. 1928) spread fear and terror among the Jewish population, which prompted brawling and an attempted storming of the synagogue that year.

Henchmen forced their way into the synagogue on the night of the 9th of November 1938, where they desecrated ritual objects and set the building on fire, despite its location in the tightly packed town centre. The fire department was on the scene to help, but they could not (or did not) prevent the building from being completely gutted. The Jewish couple Hammel was forced to arrange for and pay for the removal of the debris.

The building was eventually torn down in 1939 with many initiatives to erect a memorial to the synagogue and the Jewish residents having failed to date (2021). It wasn’t until 2003 that the community placed a memorial stone at the Jewish cemetery outside the village. Yet, in a so-called public survey in 2016, the majority of the population voted down the laying of “Stolpersteine” (stumbling blocks).

Photo documentation: Aerial photograph from 1931, “Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Rheinland-Pfalz”: (Rhineland-Palatinate state office for the preservation of historic landmarks) Synagogues of Rhineland-Palatinate - Saarland (Mainz 2005) Pg. 164.