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Translation from Pinkas ha-kehilot Germanyah
Published by Yad Vashem
Published in Jerusalem, 1992
Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.
This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Germany
Volume 3, page 178, published by Yad
Vashem, Jerusalem, 1992
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
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[Page 178]
| Year | Population | Jews | % |
| 1828 | 28 | ||
| 1861 | 2,051 | 74 | 3.6 |
| 1880 | 32,558 | 86 | 3.4 |
| 1900 | 97 | ||
| 1910 | 3,344 | 74 | 2.2 |
| 1925 | 3,603 | 54 | 1.5 |
| 1933 | 3,670 | 30 | 0.8 |
| 1939 | 3,889 | 1 | |
| Dec 31, 1940 | 1 | ||
| October 1, 1942 | 0 |
| Jews | Catholics | Protestants | Others |
| 0.8 | 83.9 | 7.2 | 2.1 |
A synagogue was built and the community was established in Hechtsheim in 1841. The pinnacle of its Jewish population was reached in 1900, with 97 souls. In later years, the community began to decline progressively. When the Nazis took over the government, less than one-third of the Jewish population remained. There was a Jewish cemetery. At the end of the 19th century D. Mohr served as the religion teacher, cantor, and shochet. In 1911, M. Kahn, a graduate of the teacher's seminary in Wurzburg, replaced him. He remained in his post until the beginning of the 1930s. The community belonged to the rabbinate of Mainz (see entry).
In 1881, anti-Semitic incitement took place in Hechtsheim, and street violence broke out.
Three members of the community were killed during the First World War. Two of them were from one family.
In the Reichstag elections of September 14, 1930, only 6% of the residents of Hechtsheim voted for the Nazi party (in contrast to the 18.5% throughout Hessen). The Nazis attained their pinnacle of support in Hechtsheim in the summer of 1932, with 30% of the votes to the Reichstag and the Landtag (in contrast to the 43%-44% throughout Hessen) – as an achievement of the Catholic Centrum Party[1]. During that period, the Social Democrats declined from 37% to 32%.
Fifteen Jews left the area between 1933-1938. One immigrated to South Africa, and the rest moved to other places in Germany. Some of those emigrated later. One Jew died in 1935. In 1936, a cantor from Mainz was brought in to conduct the services.
Heavy damage was caused to the homes and property of the five remaining Jewish families on Kristallnacht. At least one Jew was sent to Buchenwald. We do not know what happened to the synagogue. The last head of the community, Julius Weiss, left Hechtsheim with his family in the week following Kristallnacht, and the rest of the Jews, except for one, left by January, 1939. Several members of the community immigrated to the United States. After the war, one Jew from Hechtsheim lived in Germany and another in France. The last Jew of Hechtsheim, David Kop, was deported to an extermination camp in Poland in 1942, where he perished.
After the war, the local authorities and the Jewish community of Mainz accepted responsibility for the care of the Jewish cemetery (738 square meters).
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