The construction of a "Judenschule” (Jewish school), also meaning synagogue, in Hottenbach was referenced as far back as 1796. Documents that verify the construction of a new synagogue do not exist, however, so the existing building most likely underwent a thorough renovation and conversion around the middle of the 19th Century.

By the end of the 19th Century, the number of Jewish community members was in continuous decline and, at some point between 1913 and 1927, not enough Jewish men could be assembled to celebrate the worship service so that the synagogue was eventually abandoned.

During the November pogroms of 1938, local SA henchmen demolished the synagogue, smashed the tablets of the commandments mounted in the gable and desecrated the Torah scrolls and prayer books.

During the Second World War, the building was used to lodge soldiers and prisoners of war, then served as emergency housing for refugees and displaced persons after 1945.

The Jewish religious and cultural community sold the synagogue to the village in 1949, who eventually sold it to a private individual in 1981. This person converted the former synagogue to a residential home.

Photo documentation: Cut-out from a postcard (sent in 1903), “Forst-Mayer Studien- und Begegnungszentrum für das Landjudentum” (Forst-Mayer Centre for Study and Encounter related to Rural Jewish Life), Alemannia Judaica (Hahn collection)