The "Knabenpensionat" had been founded by the preacher Hermann Hirsch in 1917, when Hirsch had returned from his deployment in the First World War. Just two years after the founding of the boarding school, the villa at Hohe Straße 30 was owned by Hermann Hirsch. The boys' boarding school was to provide a home for boys who were attending secondary school in Coburg. Hermann Hirsch worked at the boarding school as a religion teacher.

In the community center of the Israelite religious community, the first Schweinfurt private trade school was founded by teacher Bernhard Adler.

In Schweinfurt, a Jewish community existed initially in the Middle Ages. In 1212 a Jew named Abraham from Schweinfurt is mentioned in Würzburg. In 1243 the Nuremberg Butigler pays the amount of 50 marks to the Jews of Schweinfurt. In the following decades one hears about Jews in the city on the occasion of persecutions: By the bands of the "Knight Rintfleisch" in 1298 and during the plague in 1348/49. Jakob von Schweinfurt, who was one of the new founders of the Erfurt community in 1357, will have been a survivor.

As part of the renovation of the Bayreuth synagogue and community center, a mikvah, a ritual immersion bath, was also built. Participants in the financing of the mikvah were, among others, the Free State of Bavaria, the Bavarian State Foundation, the Upper Franconia Foundation and the City of Bayreuth.

After the end of the war, a new Jewish community was founded in Bayreuth by survivors of concentration camps who were taken in as "displaced persons" in the American zone. In November 1945, 184 Jewish persons were counted in Bayreuth, in July 1946 there were 400, a year later over 500 persons. The centers of the "Jewish DP Community" in Bayreuth were at Heinrich-Schütz-Strasse 6 and Lisztstrasse 12. The chairmen of the Jewish DP community were Abraham Brillant and Felix Kugelmann.

The Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Würzburg and Lower Franconia e.V. sees itself as a circle of friends and supporters for the new Jewish community and cultural center "Shalom Europa".

The Jewish Museum Shalom Europa presents the 900-year history of Jewish life in Würzburg. The collection of the museum has the world's largest legacy from a medieval Jewish cemetery: 1456 "Judensteine" from the years 1147 and 1346.