Berlichingen, Germany

The Jewish community, founded in 1632 by descendants of Jews expelled from Spain, contributed to making the town a center of commercial life. The population reached a peak of 249 in 1854 (total 1,524). Due to emigration, the Jewish population of Berlichingen declined steadily, but after WWI public life intensified. A pioneer training farm, one of the first in Germany, was set up on a nearby estate. In 1933, 68 Jews remained. Anti-Jewish propaganda intensified and Jewish commercial life increasingly suffered. The synagogue was vandalized on “Kristallnacht” (9-10 November 1938) and later dismantled. Out of 70 Jews remaining in 1939, 43 Jews saved themselves by emigrating; nearly all the others were murdered in the in the Holocaust.