Alemannia Judaica

In Mainz there was a significant Jewish community initially in the Middle Ages, which was established in the 10th century. Possibly, there was already a Jewish settlement in the city in Roman times . With the beginning of the Crusades 1096 began the period of terrible persecutions: Several times a large part of the Mainz Jewish community was cruelly massacred. The Jewish community administration was in the hands of the Judenrat, at the head of which stood a Judenbischof appointed by the archbishop.

At the Markenhof estate near Kirchzarten, Alexander Moch from Schwanau-Nonnenweier had been running a farm since the end of the First World War, which was intended to train young Jews willing to emigrate for their future work in their new adopted country of Palestine. The Markenhof is considered the first 'kibbutz' on German soil.

In Kirchheimbolanden existed a Jewish community until 1938/40. Their emergence goes back to the time of the 16th /17th century . For the first time a Jewish inhabitant is mentioned in 1537. 
 
In 1718 there were ten Jewish families in the village. In the 19th century the number increased rapidly: from 40 Jewish community members in 1804 to 201 in 1825.

Ingelheim am Rhein was created in 1939 by merging Ober-Ingelheim, Nieder-Ingelheim and Frei-Weinheim. During the Hohenstaufen period, a bourgeois settlement existed next to the imperial palace in Nieder-Ingelheim. Presumably Jews were resident here in the 14th century as a 14th century Ingelheim court book contained an oath to the Jews and 1368 a Judengasse is mentioned.

In Tauberbischofsheim, an official town of the Electorate of Mainz until the beginning of the 19th century, there was a Jewish community in the Middle Ages and in modern times until 1939. Presumably, there were Jews in the town with only a few interruptions between the 13th and 20th centuries. In the Middle Ages the community suffered from four terrible persecutions of Jews in 1235, 1298 (with 130 deaths), 1336-39 and 1348/49, by which the community was almost completely wiped out in each case.

In Hildburghausen Jews already lived in the Middle Ages, shortly after the place received the town charter since 1324. In 1331 Jewish inhabitants of the town are mentioned for the first time. In 1349 the persecution of Jews in the plague period also affects the Jews in Hildburghausen. In 1367 Gottschalk von Hildburghausen is mentioned in Erfurt. Around 1388 Jud Gutkind was financier of the counts of Henneberg. In 1404 Count Heinrich V. was indebted to Gutkind with 160 gulden. In 1412 Wilhelm I still had a debt of 350 gulden to pay.

In Hessloch Jews lived already in the 15th, 16th and again since the beginning of the 17th century (expulsion of the Jews from Worms after 1600). 1710 the Jews Mosche and Mayer are mentioned by name. A Jewish community was still established in the first half of the 18th century (around 1740: eight Jewish families in the place). 
  

In Haßloch existed a Jewish community until 1938/40. Their emergence goes back to the time of the 18th century. 1722 are the Schutzjuden Josel, Löw and Samuel in Haßloch mentioned, 1744 are it the Jews Jessel, Jessel Beer, Schmul, Schammay, Abraham Samuel, Wolf Löw, Jones, Simon Jossel and Juda, who lived - probably largely with their families - in Haßloch. In 1768 33, in 1783 44 Jewish inhabitants are counted in the village. 

The history of the Jewish community in Hahnheim goes back to the 18th century. For the first time 1703 and 1723 two Jewish families were mentioned in the place (first evidence in a tax list of 1703). The number of Jewish inhabitants in the village increased to 40 persons by around 1824 and reached its peak in 1849 with 92 persons (about 14.3% of the total population). Since then, the number of Jews in the village declined due to emigration and emigration, so that around 1900 46 and in 1931 still 25 Jewish inhabitants were counted.