Rockenhausen

In Rockenhausen (town since 1332) Jews lived in the second half of the 13th century. A pogrom occurred on April 23, 1283 (four days after pogroms in Mainz and Bacharach), when 13 Jews were slain in Rockenhausen. Others were forcibly baptized or managed to escape. A few years later (from 1309) Jews again lived in the town. During the persecution in the plague period 1348/49 Jews were also murdered in Rockenhausen. After that, the sources about Jews in the town are silent for a long time.
  
Since the 17th century (after 1662) Jews are again mentioned in the town. But only in the 19th century their number increased more strongly. Around 1925, when 120 Jewish inhabitants were counted again (6.6% of the total of about 1,800 inhabitants), the community council was formed by Messrs. Siegmund Becker, Johann Meyer, Benjamin Berg and Ludwig (Louis) Breitmann.

Since 1933 the National Socialist anti-Jewish measures also affected the Jewish inhabitants still living in Rockenhausen. 1936 lived 70, on 1.11.1938 still six Jewish families with 17 relatives in the city. The last cantors and teachers of the Jewish community were Fritz Levy since September 1933 and Jakob Färber since summer 1935. During November pogrom 1938 the interior of the synagogue was destroyed.