Online Archive of Jewish Communities

In the Middle Ages Jewish inhabitants are mentioned for the first time in 1332. After the persecution in the plague period 1348/49 one hears 1371/72 again from Jews in the city. In 1384 a synagogue (prayer hall) was mentioned in Butzbach. The Jewish families lived especially in the Judengasse (later Hirschgasse). Their main source of income was pawnbroking. However, one also hears of a Jewish doctor and of Jewish scholars. Nothing is known about an expulsion of the Jews at the end of the Middle Ages, but most of the Jews moved away from the town in the middle of the 15th century.