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Jewish
History
In the 16th century, a handful of Jews settled in Hemsbach and primarily made their living selling cheap meats. A Jewish cemetery close to Hemsbach was already in use by 1578 and later contained about a thousand graves. This cemetery is the oldest and largest in north Baden and served eight Jewish communities in the area.
In the 19th century, Jews in Hemsbach made a living mainly by selling cattle and also by farming, storekeeping, peddling, and money lending. In 1846, a synagogue was built to replace the former public hall, used for hundreds of years for public prayers, which had burned down. Space was also allotted for offices, a school, and a mikvah. The community kept growing until the start of the seventies, and reached its highest population (140 Jews) in 1871.
From then on, migration and urbanization caused the number of Jews to diminish. At the start of the 20th century, only 100 Jews were left in Hemsbach. In WWI, four Jews from Hemsbach died: Moritz Dokov, Sigmund Oppenheimer, Sigmund Pfaltzer, Julius Simon. With the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, their number was cut in half. By 1941, no Jews were left in Hemsbach.
| Time Period | Region | |
| Before 1803 | Holy Roman Empire | Pfalz-Mosbach (1410-1449) |
| 1803 - 1871 | Grand Duchy of Baden | |
| 1871 - 1918 | German
Empire |
|
| 1918 - 1933 | Weimar Republic | |
| 1933 - 1945 | Nazi Germany | |
| 1945 - Present | Federal Republic of Germany | Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district, Baden- Württemberg |
| Year | Jewish Population | Total Population |
| 1722 | 9 families | |
| 1825 | 61 families | 1,533 |
| 1871 | 140 | |
| 1875 | 111 | 1,604 |
| 1900 | 101 | 1,977 |
| 1910 | 89 | 2,530 |
| 1925 | 86 | 2,876 |
| 1933 | 54 | 3,014 |
| 1936 | 46 | |
| 1938 | 33 | |
| 1939 | 22 | |
| 1941 | 0 |